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PRICE, 25 CENTS. 



TI S STORY OF 

Madam Du Barry. 

Translated from the French by GEORGE MGREHEAD. 



.,..fj.s~^X 



m M 




fWS^^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



MADAM DU BARRY ON HER WAY TO THE GUILLOTINE. 



NEW YORK: 

J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

57 Rose Street. 



tf •«■ 




MADAME DU BARRY, 



THE STORY OF ^•^'^ 



MADAM DU BARRY. 



THE MISTRESS OF A KING. 



From the French of 

JEAN DE LA HIRE. 

Translated by George Morehead. 



Copyright, 1901, by J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company. 






New York ; 

J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

57 Rose Street. 



DC/35 



The library of 

0ONGRES3, 

Two Copies Received 

NOV, 23 190f 

Copyright entry 
CLASS CMCXa No. 

a £? i^ / 

COPY a 



s r e 
o e f * 



INTRODUCTION. 

Mrs. Leslie Carter, the favorite Ameri- 
can actress, having selected Madame du 
Barry as the central figure of her new play, 
the story of her life and adventures be- 
comes a topic of interest to American read- 
ers. 

Heretofore, no book upon the subject has 
been available to English readers, and this 
translation from a recent French work is 
designed to supply that want. 

The brilliancy, the extravagance and 
wickedness of the court of Louis XV. have 
been a matter of wonder to succeeding gen- 
erations; and the grace and beauty of the 
ladies, combined with the wit and elegance 
of the courtiers, constitute excellent ma- 



viii INTRODUCTION. 

terial for romantic characterization. The 
monarch possessed absolute power but a 
weak and vacillating spirit; consequently, 
he was ever subject to the wiles and in- 
trigues of designing courtiers and adven- 
turous women, who were ambitious for 
royal favors. To be mistress of the King 
was a position sought by many women of 
noble birth as they thereby acquired a con- 
trolling influence over the royal will, with 
equal power to reward their friends or 
crush their enemies. The career of 
Madame du Barry is a striking example of 
this extraordinary power. 

The story of her life forms an excellent 
picture of French society in the eighteenth 
century, with its pleasures, intrigues, ele- 
gances, crimes and virtues. It is a life re- 
plete with adventure and romance. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 



CHAPTER I. 

From a mass of contradictory evidence, 
in the face of the evident hostility of the 
anecdotes and memoirs published a short 
time after the death of Louis XV., and the 
disgrace of his last favorite; in the face of 
the biographers who seek romantic inter- 
est and aim to give the public only romance 
and fiction, it is very difficult to discern 
and establish the real truth relating to the 
infancy and girlhood of IMadame du Barry. 

We must content ourselves with a com- 
parative verity; such suffices for similar 



10 MADAME DU BARRY a 

biographies and posterity may console it- 
self in the fact that it does not possess 
absolute certainty and complete knowledge 
as to the precise depth of weakness and 
degradation to which a woman descended 
who has become an historical personage by 
accident or inadvertence. 

All the traditions of the eighteenth cen- 
tury agree on one point, that is, that 
Madame du Barry's mother was a poor 
sempstress named Anne Becu, who, at the 
time of the birth of our heroine, resided at 
Vaucouleurs, and that the child Jeanne 
was an illegitimate offspring. Tradition 
also informs us that the child's father was 
a certain Gomard de Vaubernier, and its 
godfather was a banker named Dumon- 
ceau. However, the only facts really es- 
tablished are these : that the mother was in 



MADAME DU BARRY,, H 

great distress at Vaueouleurs; that the 
reputed father died shortly after the child^s 
birth; that the mother was the recipient 
of certain charity at the hands of Monsieur 
Dumonceau, one of the parties interested 
in the supplying of rations to the army; 
that Anne Becu moved to Paris when the 
child Jeanne was about five years old. 

The mother of little Jeanne, being with- 
out means, conceived the idea of going 
to Paris to better her fortune. After her 
arrival, her first thought was to visit the 
wealthy banker who had been so kind and 
generous to her at Vaueouleurs. Mon- 
sieur Dumonceau, who had not seen his 
prot6g6e for several years, was surprised 
at her pretty face and bright disposition. 
He gave twelve livres to the mother, to- 
gether with a promise of the same sum each 



12 MADAME DU BARRY.^ 

month to enable her to educate little 
Jeanne. 

At the end of a few months the good 
Dumonceau interested himself in the af- 
fairs of the mother, and, in the naivete of 
his charity, he placed the mother and child 
in the keeping of his mistress. Mile. Fr^d- 
^ric, a renowned courtesan of that period. 
The pretty child gave promise of becoming 
a charming young woman, so when Mile. 
Frederic, who was a person of good judg- 
ment, found that the girl was growing 
quickly, she feared for her future. Ac- 
cordingly, she prevailed upon M. Dumon- 
ceau to send little Jeanne to the convent of 
Sainte-Aure. 

The sisters of Sainte-Aure were a com- 
munity whose purpose was not to furnish 
a. retreat for fallen women, but to provide 



MADAME DU BARRY.; 13 

against their downfall. It was the inten- 
tion of the founders of the institution to 
establish an asylum, at a moderate com- 
pensation, for young girls who, born of 
honest parents, '^found themselves in cir- 
cumstances of temptation and danger." 
The ten livres were paid for the bed, the 
little one was provided with two pairs of 
sheets, and six napkins, and the doors of 
the convent of the Kue Neuve-Sainte-Gen- 
evieve closed upon her. 

For a young girl of her position, who 
knew life only as she had seen it at the es- 
tablishment of Mile. Fr6d^ric; cradled in 
a luxurious manner, with head and eyes 
dazzled by the sight of gay ribbons and ele- 
gant robes; for a child spoiled by caresses 
and endearments; already a coquette and 
already displaying that roguish humor 



14 MADAME DU BARRY. i 

that was destined to amaze even Versailles, 
we can understand that the change was a 
radical one. 

Adieu to the charming little toilets cut 
in the decollete fashion of Mile. Frdd^ric! 
Upon that sprightly head, hehold two black 
veils of bolting cloth, accompanied by a 
common wimple. Behold over those blonde 
curls a band of cheap linen which com- 
pletely hides them, and covers also more 
than three-quarters of the fair forehead. 
Her dress is of common white serge, with- 
out any attempt at style or ornament, and 
her little feet are encased in shoes of yellow 
leather, tied with leather strings. This 
costume was compulsory and invariable. 
Did not the archives of the community con- 
tain as a rule and model a sacred statue 
thus clothed? 



MADAME DU BARRY. [ 15 

Everything around Jeanne in this chaste 
community — all her surroundings, both 
material and spiritual — were as cold, se- 
vere and cheerless as her new costume; 
there was no silver but the plated ware in 
the infirmary, no gold but the gilding on 
the altar. The governing rule was the 
rigorous vow of poverty, which prohibited 
to the individual any personal possessions, 
and completely eliminated the pronouns 
mine and thine. It was a constant round 
of unremitting labor, devoid of pleasure or 
recreation; it was the work of instruction 
carried on amidst silence that was almost 
solitude. The rules of the institution pro- 
scribed and punished the mirthfulness, the 
delicate little airs, the smiles and laughter, 
the innocent merry prattle, that are char- 
acteristic of happy girlhood. 



16 MADAME DU BARRY., 

Vain and idle prohibitions! In spite of 
every rule, little Jeanne soon dispersed 
throughout this austere house the gayety 
and mirth that were so natural to her age 
and disposition. Her conduct is said to 
have scandalized the good sisters. Books 
unfit to be placed in the hands of youthful 
readers were circulated amongst the pu- 
pils, and this corrupting influence was 
charged to the perversity of the merry 
Jeanne. The reproofs and punishments 
imposed on her by the sisters were una- 
vailing; they could not curb her youthful 
spirit; and fearing that her conduct would 
endanger the discipline of the institution 
they resolved to dismiss her as an incorrigi- 
ble. 

Monsieur Dumonceau was informed of 
the position of affairs, and he came to see 



MADAME DU BARRY,, 17 

Jeanne, who persistently denied the charges 
of misconduct; but her benefactor was 
obliged to take her from the convent and 
return her to her mother, that is to say, to 
the house of Mile. Frederic. 



18 MADAME DU BARRYa 



CHAPTER II. 

Upon her return, Mile. Frederic dis- 
covered that Jeanne had grown and de- 
veloped into a handsome young woman 
with silky golden hair and soft blue eyes 
and a clear, delicate complexion; in fact, 
with such a face and figure, Jeanne was 
more beautiful and more dangerous than 
ever. Besides, Mile. Frederic had become 
weary of the mother, whom she suspected 
of prying into the secrets of her house; she 
therefore resolved to get rid of both mother 
and child and, as an excuse, she raised an 
objection and based a quarrel over the sus- 
picious relations that then existed between 



MADAME DU BARRY. 19 

Jeanne's mother and a monk named Go- 
mard. On account of the violent indigna- 
tion assumed by Mile. Frederic over this 
alleged scandalous conduct, Monsieur Du- 
monceau sent Jeanne and her mother from 
the house and abandoned them to fate. 

By this sudden turn of the wheel of for- 
tune, we next find Jeanne, as a girl of fif- 
teen years, without means and a child of 
chance, wandering the streets of Paris by 
day and night, often cold and hungry, 
carrying on her arm a little basket contain- 
ing a variety of trinkets which she offers 
for sale from door to door or to the passers- 
by on the street. Her stock consists of 
watch-chains, snuff-boxes, false pearls, 
pins, jewel cases and other small wares that 
one buys for the sake of the pretty eyes and 
the coquettish smile of the fair merchant. 



20 MADAME DU BARRY.. 

A shop in the open air, a vagrant, danger- 
ous trade, selling so little that it looks like 
a pretext, pursuing a doubtful course upon 
the pavement, exposed to proposals at night 
and the solicitations of valets who seek new 
pleasures for their vicious masters. 

Some years later, the Count de Genlis, 
one of the most charming libertines of the 
,' century, related to the Count d'Allonville 
his great astonishment upon recognizing at 
Versailles in the woman, who was pre- 
sented to him as Madame du Barry, a little 
girl of the streets who had been once 
brought to him by his valet. 

After a few months of this precarious ex- 
istence another change occurred in her 
eventful life. Her uncle^ — or pretended 
uncle — the monk Gomard, became, by a 
plurality of offices characteristic of the 



MADAME DU BARRY. 21 

period, the almoner of the chapel as well as 
the prompter in the little theatre attached 
to the chateau of Cour-Neuve wherein the 
aged widow of the Seignor Lagarde 
amused her old age with a society theatre. 
The monk introduced Jeanne to the notice 
of the widow Lagarde, who brought the 
young girl to Cour-Neuve and was at once 
charmed with her pretty face and sprightly 
wit; she retained her as a companion and, 
when necessary, to act as a maid. Unfor- 
tunately, Madame Lagarde had some sons 
who had attained the age of manhood and, 
as might be expected, an intrigue soon ex- 
isted between one of them and the seductive 
little maid, which resulted in the mother 
and her wayward daughter returning once 
more to the pavements of Paris. There, 
they had to secure meat and drink. 



22 MADAME DU BARRY. 

The mother at this time married an 
artisan named Eangon, which placed her 
beyond the reach of want, whilst the daugh- 
ter entered upon a new career as an ap- 
prentice to a milliner, a Monsieur Labille, 
who kept a shop in the Eue Saint-Honord 
Here, she assumed a new name, that of 
Mile. Lange, and, although her new sur- 
roundings were not so coarse and brutal as 
when she lived on the streets of Paris, she 
was yet exposed to much temptation and 
that of the most alluring character. 

The history of a milliner's apprentice in 
the eighteenth century is neither a long nor 
a varied one. If she were at all attractive 
she was soon decoyed from the path of duty 
to become mistress to one of the elegant 
young beaux of the period. Imagine the 
shops, all glass, around which the most 



MADAME DU BARRY. 23 

charming idlers, young and handsome 
noblemen, lounged from morning till night; 
the latticed shutters seemed to have been 
made on purpose for the transmission of 
love letters from the sighing swains to their 
pretty victims. The result is obvious— a 
rendezvous, proposals, assignations, with a 
Monsieur Lavouvenardiere, a Monsieur 
Duval or some other gallant. Some have 
wished that the future Madame du Barry 
had at this time fallen to the lowest depths 
of debauchery and never risen therefrom; 
but such was not her destiny. She dis- 
played so much freedom in her choice of 
lovers, so much inconstancy, that it is ap- 
parent her heart was not as yet affected. 

However, she was finally induced to 
abandon the milliner's shop by a hair- 
dresser named Lamet, whom she soon 



24 MADAME DU BARRY., 

ruined with her extravagant tastes in 
jewels and furniture. When reduced to 
his last liyre, he fled to England, and she, 
at her mother's solicitation, became a fre- 
quenter of the gambling house of Madame 
Duquesnoy in the Rue de Bourbon. A gam- 
bling house ! That means a rendezvous for 
rich libertines and adventurous women; a 
meeting of the tiger and her prey. 

It was at Madame Duquesnoy's establish- 
ment that Jeanne first met the Count du 
Barry, who afterward became the most 
famous intermeddler of the century. He 
was a libertine and gambler^ — vices that 
were common to all young noblemen of the 
period — ^but his career of debauchery had 
been of such a wild and extensive character 
as to earn for him the nickname of "Roud" 

The count was the proprietor of a gam- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 25 

bling house in the Rue du Bac, a resort 
patronized by all the gay young noblemen 
of Paris. At that period, gambling was a 
vice of universal practice and, perhaps, the 
most innocent and harmless of the many 
vices that then prevailed in aristocratic 
society. When the count first met Jeanne, 
he was attracted to her by her beauty and 
her wit, and soon afterward he induced her 
to become an inmate of his establishment. 
There she filled a double role; she was a 
mistress to the count and a decoy in his 
gaming rooms to attract dupes and lure 
them to their ruin. The arrangement ex- 
isting between them was not founded on af- 
fection — it was a scheme to prey on the 
weaknesses of others. 

It was a life that pleased Jeanne. Well 
clothed, well fed, mingling in the society of 



26 MADAME DU BARRY. 

gentlemen of wit and grace, dissipated 
though they were, she acquired an insight 
into a higher society than she had been ac- 
customed to, and her experience was of 
much service to her in later years. It was 
another step in the fulfilment of her des- 
tiny — another stepping stone in the path 
that led from the gutter to the throne. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 27 



CHAPTEK III. 

Count Jean du Barry was a gentleman 
who had spent the first twenty-eight years 
of his life at the provincial city of Toulouse, 
dissipating his youth and squandering a 
considerable fortune in riotous living. 
Then he had come to Paris, with ripened 
passions, with an appetite sated with ex- 
cesses and desirous of change, with a grasp- 
ing ambition and little or no conscience. 

He entered and soon established himself 
in aristocratic circles whose life most 
nearly resembled his own. At first, he de- 
sired to enter political life as a foreign min- 
ister, but the prime minister of the day, 



28 MADAME DU BARRY. 

RouilM, finding him inexperienced in di- 
plomacy, advised him to travel for a time 
in Germany, and gave him a promise of 
future service. After Rouille came min- 
ister Bernis and he also gave du Barry 
promises — but nothing more. Then came 
the Duke de Choiseul, who coldly and bru- 
tally killed all the count's hopes. 

Then du Barry, whose fortune had dwin- 
dled to a mere competency, was obliged to 
abandon his dreams of a diplomatic career 
and turn his attention to something ma- 
terial. He, therefore, obtained an interest 
in a contract for furnishing the government 
with army and navy supplies. He soon re- 
trieved his lost fortune and became richer 
than ever; but he became more prodigal, 
his tastes and his debaucheries became 
more extravagant, his losses at play more 



MADAME DU BARRY. 29 

extensive — in fact, this wild, heedless life 
soon earned for him the soubriquet of Roue, 

Prompted by the historical events of the 
century, by the fact that monarchs and 
their kingdoms had been governed by cour- 
tesans, and that more than one minister had 
acquired and maintained his power and be- 
come the virtual ruler of France through a 
royal mistress, the Count du Barry con- 
ceived the idea of presenting Jeanne to 
King Louis as the successor to Madame de 
Pompadour. Although the count had no 
idea of becoming a minister, yet there were 
many advantages that he would gain 
through Jeanne's power with the King, if 
his scheme proved successful. 

It would not be the first attempt on the 
part of Jean du Barry to palm a mistress 
onto the King. In the time of Madame de 



30 MADAME DU BARRY, 

Pompadour, he had sought to make a cer- 
tain Mile. Dorothee the mistress of Louis 
the Fifteenth. This girl, the daughter of 
a water-carrier of Strasburg, had even been 
invited to supper with the King, and the 
Count du Barry, her lover, had demanded 
in return that he be appointed minister to 
Cologne. The affair was nipped in the bud 
by Lebel, who, to acquit his already 
over-loaded conscience, told the King that 
the girl was suffering from a disease worse 
than the scrofula, and so the affair ended — 
much to the count's discomfiture. 

Absorbed with his new idea, the count 
was only awaiting a favorable opportunity 
to set his scheme in action, when Richelieu, 
who sometimes found himself in such bad 
company as that of the count, let fall the 
remark that since the death of Madame de 



MADAME DU BARRY. 31 

Pompadour the King had not taken a new 
favorite, which seemed a strange and un- 
accountable affair. 

Upon this remark, the imagination of 
Jean du Barry set to work, and his scheme 
began to develop. Several times, he took 
Jeanne to supper with the Duke de Rich- 
elieu at his pavilion on the boulevard. One 
day, vaunting the beauties of his mistress, 
half in joke and half in earnest, he told the 
duke that he intended her for the King. 

Eichelieu, who had censured the taste of 
the King in his devotion to Madame de 
Pompadour because she was not a woman 
of title, and who wished for the King's mis- 
tress some lady attached to the court, re- 
ceived the count's declaration with a deri- 
sive smile and gave him to understand that 
if he had no better project whereby to make 



32 MADAME DU BARRY. 

a fortune, his chances of acquiring wealth 
were very doubtful. 

The Roud was not to be daunted by shad- 
ows or doubts; his supreme confidence in 
his success was displayed in a thousand fol- 
lies, a thousand drolleries, the recollection 
of which amused Eichelieu for a long time. 
The count asserted that he was able and 
willing to carry Jeanne to the King's cham- 
ber himself, if no one else was willing to 
conduct her. 

"Ah ! well !" said Richelieu, jokingly, "go 
and see Lebel ; perhaps by his means, your 
favorite may obtain, for one day, the honors 
of the Louvre.'' 

But the count felt that he must secure 
the co-operation of the Duke de Richelieu 
in order to succeed in his scheme ; therefore, 
he persistently kept the subject before the 



MADAME DU BARRY. 33 

duke until he finally convinced him that the 
plan was an excellent one and would re- 
sult in material advantage to both of them. 
Richelieu had political ambitions to gratify 
and he w as even willing to gain his end by 
pandering to the vices of a King. Thus it 
was arranged that Eichelieu should broach 
the subject to His Majesty and, if possible, 
secure a meeting between Jeanne and the 
King. It was also agreed that she should 
be introduced to him under the name of 
Madame du Barry, as it would be a subject 
of scandal for the King to take as mistress 
an unmarried woman. Such a proceeding 
would be contrary to court etiquette. 



34 MADAME DU BARRY.: 



CHAPTER IV. 

Comfortably seated in an armchair, in 
his private apartment, Louis XV. played 
mechanically with a paper-knife, of which 
the ivory handle was incrusted with gold; 
it was with an air of excessive melancholy 
that he gazed through the window at the 
rain, falling in the court of honor of the 
palace at Versailles. 

His Majesty was a victim of ennui. 

Since the death of Madame de Pompa- 
dour he had had no favorite mistress, and 
the orgies of the infamous Parc-aux-Cerfs 
had ceased to amuse him. Besides, he had 
lost the services of those gentlemen who 
had formerly provided him with adventures 



MADAME DU BARRY. 35 

that were at once piquant and novel; these 
parties were his obsequious friends, the 
famous cardinal-archbishop of Paris, other- 
wise called Mgr. d'Aigre or the Ahh6 Pom- 
padour, who was now fattening in the 
Eternal City in a sinecure at the Vatican; 
the Marquis de Lugeac, chief steward of 
the Parc-aux-Cerfs, the gayest man in the 
kingdom, who had recently been killed in 
a duel by a sword-thrust at the hand of 
M. Gaetan de Nerac, a captain of the guard, 
who was immediately executed. Thus 
Louis XV. was now deprived of the ser- 
vices of the three men who had been so 
industrious and ingenious in providing new 
and diverting pleasures for the royal enter- 
tainment. 

Certainly, he was much ennuyee. 

The mourning that he was now wearing 



36 MADAME DU BARRY, 

in memory of his late wife, the queen Marie 
Leekzinska, forbade his giving any f^tes at 
the court. Consequently, on this particu- 
lar day, he was more than ever inclined to 
be melancholy at sight of the rain, to look 
upon life as dull and insipid, and the role 
of King of France as a very undesirable 
part. 

Whilst thus lamenting his kingly fate, he 
was interrupted by a person who entered 
unannounced. It was Lebel, his valet de 
chambre. 

"Well! what do you wish?" asked the 
King, in a petulant tone. 

"Sire, monsieur the Duke de Eichelieu is 
without. He wishes an audience with Your 
Majesty." 

^What does he want? Faith! the duke 
is as dull and uninteresting as M. Diderot. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 37 

My courtiers have their wits buried in 
Easter ashes — not one of them can amuse 
me. Ah! well! let him enter — I suppose I 
must see him, if he does bore me." 

Lebel disappeared, and in a short time 
the Duke de Richelieu entered, followed by 
the valet de chambre. 

The King invited his guest to be seated. 

"What do you wish, my friend?" 

"Sire," said the duke, "the grief and mel- 
ancholy that oppress Your Majesty have 
touched the heart of your most faithful and 
devoted subject " 

"Oh! my lord duke," interrupted the 
King, "no ceremony, if you please; speak to 
me as a companion and not as a courtier." 

The duke smiled, and continued: 

"Sire, I have a communication to make, 
or at least, a suggestion, that I hope will 



38 MADAME DU BARRY.: 

receive your favorable consideration. For 
the past five years, you have had no favor- 
ite, for the reason, I presume, that you 
could not find a woman entirely worthy of 
such an honor. I venture to hope that I 
have now discovered a woman who will 
prove, in every respect, a worthy successor 
to Madame de Pompadour " 

The King roused himself from his idle at- 
titude and assumed an air of interest. The 
duke continued: 

"She is the wife of the Count du Barry; 
her marvellous beauty has revolutionized 
all Paris; the youthful grace of her eigh- 
teen years is embellished with all the quali- 
ties that render a woman worthy of royal 
favor. I have come to propose to Your 
Majesty that you see Madame du Barry." 

Louis XY. arose. 



MADAME DU BARRY.: 39 

* Where?" he inquired. 

It was Lebel, the valet de chambre who 
answered. 

"Sire, she is in my apartments. To- 
morrow evening, I shall give a supper at 
which there will be present a number of the 
most popular courtesans, the most beauti- 
ful women of Paris, and amongst them will 
be Madame du Barry. Concealed in a 
chamber adjoining my dining-room, Your 
Majesty can see, through some holes adroit- 
ly made in the partition, the only woman 
in France who merits your attention." 

"I shall be there," said the King. Then 
turning to Richelieu, he added : 

"As to you, my lord duke, if this Madame 
du Barry does not please me, I will send 
you to the Bastille as a punishment for de- 
ceiving your King with vain hopes." 



40 MADAME DU BARRY.X 

The duke smiled, bowed, and, following 
Lebel, left the apartment. 

On the evening of the following day, ac- 
companied by the Count d'Espirac, a cap- 
tain of the guards, and by four lieutenants. 
His Majesty went to LebePs apartments at 
the supper hour. The King was conducted 
to the chamber adjoining the dining-room 
and, immediately, he placed his eyes at the 
holes which had been so ingeniously ar- 
ranged in the wall. He was at once as- 
tonished and pleased at the spectacle pre- 
sented to his view. 

In the dining-room, the supper had al- 
ready commenced. The King recognizied, 
amongst the guests, Lebel, Eichelieu, M. de 
Sainte-Foix, Count du Barry, the Prince de 
Conde; but all the women were strangers 
to him. Each of them was possessed of 



MADAME DU BARRY. 41 

charm and beauty, differing in kind and 
degree ; but, at first, the King saw none to 
move his passions or cause his heart to 
throb. However, one of the ladies, whom 
he had not at first observed, soon attracted 
his notice. 

Her hair was blonde, slightly tinged with 
a golden hue; the locks were gathered to- 
gether like the hair of a child, which gave 
to her features the delicate charm and 
freshness of a young girl. She had brown 
eyebrows and long brown eyelashes, be- 
tween which her blue eyes, half-opened, 
shone with a voluptuous and caressing soft- 
ness; a delicate, little nose; a rosy, little 
mouth, curved like Cupid's bow; a com- 
plexion that the King compared, mentally, 
to a "rose leaf fallen into milk"; a long 
neck, round and plump, like that of an an- 



42 MADAME DU BARRY,. 

tique statue, set upon exquisitely curved 
shoulders; hands like a queen of fairies. 
All these qualities were illuminated by a 
smile in which there were, at once, the 
purity of an angel and the voluptuousness 
of an amorous goddess. 

Louis XV. said to himself, as he gazed 
on this charming girl: 

"I hope that is Madame du Barry. She 
is charming, delicious and worth a king's 
ransom. She shall be mine." 

The King remained motionless, fasci- 
nated, until the end of the supper. 

He heard her laugh with a melody, crys- 
talline and pure; he saw her eat, and re- 
marked her gentle grace; he heard her 
speak in a soft, vibrating voice that pene^ 
trated every fibre of his body and filled him 
with passionate longings. 



MADAME DU BARRY.. 43 

As though she knew she was playing for 
a throne, the young girl was agile, merry, 
and mischievous, and the impression she 
made upon the King was as favorable as 
she could have desired — even though she 
were acting a part. 

Before leaving, the King gave his orders 
to the Count d'Espirac, and, an hour later, 
Madame du Barry entered the chamber 
where the King awaited her. He was great- 
ly pleased to recognized in Madame du 
Barry the young girl he had been admiring 
all evening. 



U MADAME DU BARRY.. 



CHAPTER V. 

Next morning, Lebel was summoned to 
the apartment of the King, in advance of 
the usual hour. The King was, evidently, 
affected by some deep emotion. Contrary 
to his usual custom, he asked Lebel to be 
seated — a circumstance that indicated 
something unusual had happened or was 
about to occur. 

His Majesty entered at once into a glow- 
ing eulogy upon the charms of Madame du 
Barry, and dwelt, at great length, upon her 
gracious qualities; the valet de chambre 
was greatly surprised to find that his mas- 
ter was so deeply smitten with his new mis- 
tress, and when Louis XV. expressed his 



MADAME DU BARRY. 45 

determination to see, henceforth, no other 
company than that of Madame du Barry, 
Lebel exclaimed, with alarm: 

"Sire, she to whom Your Majesty desires 
to take as the successor of Madame de Pom- 
padour is not — married." 

The King arose. 

"I will explain it to Your Majesty," con- 
tinued Lebel, confusedly, "this woman has 
been the passing mistress of several of the 
noblemen of your court; she is of ignoble 
birth ; her mother is " 

"No matter!" exclaimed the King; "you 
have deceived me, and now you must repair 
your fault. I wish Madame du Barry " 

"Sire, the pretended Madame du Barry 
is the mistress of the Count de Sainte-Foix, 
and has been used as a bait to lure the 
dupes of the Count du Barry to his gam- 



46 MADAME DU BARRY.. 

ing house. She is not worthy of Your 
Majesty." 

The King was furious; he paced to and 
fro the length of the apartment, in great 
agitation. When Lebel ceased speaking, 
the King seized the tongs from before the 
hearth and approached the valet in a 
threatening manner; pale and trembling, 
Lebel fell to his knees. Louis, however, re- 
placed the tongs, and, pointing to the door 
as a dismissal of Lebel, he said: 

"Within a month, this woman must be 
the person whom you represented her to be 
— Madame du Barry. She must be mar- 
ried. Your own liberty depends on it. 
Now, go!" 

Overwhelmed, almost in tears, Lebel left 
the King's apartment and immediately 
sought the Duke de Eichelieu to whom he 



MADAME DU BARRY., 47 

related his disgrace. The duke hastened 
to summon the Count du Barry. The lat- 
ter arrived, and upon learning the wish of 
Louis XV., he executed a pirouette and 
snapped his fingers joyfully, saying: 

"It shall be done. His Majesty shall be 
satisfied." 

"But you already have a wife," said Rich- 
elieu, "so how can this woman become 
Madame du Barry?" 

"Ah! you do not know that I have a 
brother living in the South, who is a bach- 
elor and the possessor of an empty purse 
and an easy conscience. He is the man we 
want. My brother Guillaume shall marry 
my mistress, then he can return to the coun- 
try and live comfortably on a royal pension, 
and the King will have his Madame du 
Barry. Quite simple, is it not?" 



48 MADAME DU BARRY. 

Much amused, Kichelieu and Lebel ap- 
plauded the scheme. 

The Count du Barry immediately pre- 
pared to carry his scheme into effect. It 
would be necessary to prove the parentage 
of his mistress at the time of her marriage. 
Therefore, in order to conceal her illegiti- 
mate origin, he forged a baptismal certifi- 
cate that gave her a respectable ancestry. 
Even a new name was created for her — 
that of Marie Jeanne Gomard de Vauber- 
nier — and a marriage contract was pre- 
pared and executed with as much care and 
particularity as though the marriage were 
a genuine one. 

A month later, Guillaume du Barry ar- 
rived in Paris and was married to Made- 
moiselle Gomard de Vaubernier. The cere- 
mony took place on the first day of Sep- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 49 

tember, 1768, in presence of the high and 
important official, Monsieur Jean du Barry 
— Cer^s, governor of Levignac, an elder 
brother of the bridegroom. The ceremony 
was performed at the church of Saint- 
Eustache, at the unusually early hour of 
five o'clock in the morning, in order that 
the curious public might not have an op- 
portunity to witness and, perhaps, ridicule 
this ill-assorted marriage. 

After the ceremony, the bridegroom bade 
adieu to his bride at the church door. He 
kissed her on the forehead — nothing more 
— and left her forever. He returned to his 
country home to spend his strangely-earned 
money in riotous living. Shortly after- 
ward, he was granted a pension from the 
iroyal treasury as a consolation for the loss 
of his wife. 



50 MADAME DU BARRY,, 

As to Madame du Barry, having now an 
official name and a genuine marriage rela- 
tion, she took possession of the apartments 
of the valet Lebel, who, suffering from he- 
patic colic, a new attack of which had been 
provoked by the anger of the King and the 
fear of his tongs, had retired from service 
and was residing with an old friend. 

During the autumn of the year 1768, 
Madame du Barry was the secret mistress 
of the King. His Majesty was yet in 
mourning for the queen Marie Leckzinska, 
and all the ladies of the court, as well as 
the princesses, would have made loud pro- 
testations if Louis XV. had publicly recog- 
nized his mistress at this time. 

However, Madame du Barry gradually 
acquired the position of a favorite. She 
quitted the apartments of Lebel for those 



MADAME DU BARRY. 51 

formerly occupied by the Princess Adelaide. 
The Count de Sainte-Foix, the Duke de 
Richelieu and the Count du Barry were 
actively engaged in various intrigues to se- 
cure her official presentation at court, in 
order that she might pass from the position 
of secret mistress to the more important 
rank of recognized favorite. 

Madame du Barry passed her days in 
laughter and frivolity, and in apparent ig- 
norance of all court intrigues. By a simu- 
lated devotion to her royal lover, she rap- 
idly increased her hold upon the heart of 
Louis XV., who, in a short time, abandoned 
himself entirely to the pleasures of her so- 
ciety. 

During this time, a life of intrigues, ad- 
ventures and piquant occurrences was in 
progress at Versailles, and Lebel, the author 
of many diversions and many orgies, died 



52 MADAME DU BARRY.i 

in a manner so sudden that a rumor was 
current to the effect that he had poisoned 
himself. But, in truth, the colic, from 
which he had suffered since the scene with 
the royal tongs, was the sole cause of his 
death. 

Thus, everything was changed. The 
Abbd Pompadour, the Marquis de Lugeac, 
Gaetan de N6rac, Lebel, the Parc-aux-Cerfs 
had all disappeared, soon to be forgotten; 
they gave place to Madame du Barry, to 
her brother-in-law, Jean the Kou6, to the 
Duke de Richelieu, to the Count de Sainte- 
Foix, and to a multitude of new adventures 
which, as honest and conscientious histo- 
rians, we will relate without fear, favor or 
affection, without adding thereto or detract- 
ing therefrom; truth is mighty and must 
prevail! Has it not always been repre- 
sented in a state of nudity? 



MADAME DU BARRY. 63 



CHAPTER VI. 

Whilst Madame du Barry was installed 
at Versailles, in the apartments of Madame 
Adelaide, and quite near the apartments of 
the King, whilst she was surrounded with 
all the luxury of a princess, her friends were 
striving to hasten the auspicious moment in 
which she would be presented to the court 
and thus become the official favorite of His 
Majesty. 

The Count Jean du Barry, her brother-in- 
law, nicknamed the Rou^, sought to create 
a numerous and powerful coterie that 
should be devoted to the service of Madame 
du Barry and should assist in raising her 
to power. First, he secured the co-opera- 



54 MADAME DU BARRY.- 

tion of his sister, Chon, a deformed cripple, 
but very intelligent. Chon had a certain 
degree of wit and political wisdom, had liter- 
ary ability and wrote for La Mercure. She 
could be very useful to the cause of Madame 
du Barry. 

Then came the Countess de Beam, busi- 
ness-like, intriguing and a famous litigant; 
the Duke de Kichelieu, powerful at court 
and beloved of the King ; the Duke d'Aiguil- 
lon, a friend of the Jesuits and an enemy of 
the Parliament and detested by M. de 
Choiseul, the prime minister. 

On the other hand, the Duke de CTioiseul, 
the prime minister, Madame de Choiseul, 
the Duchess de Grammont, the Count de 
Noailles and other courtiers formed a fac- 
tious opposition. The mouth-piece of this 
party was M. de Voltaire. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 55 

When the two factions had established 
themselves in their respective positions, the 
battle commenced. 

Acting under instructions from Madame 
de Grammont, Voltaire wrote the pamphlet 
entitled Le Roi Petant, whilst the populace 
of Paris were singing, on every street and 
square, the couplets of La Bourhonnaise, in 
which Madame du Barry was ferociously 
attacked : 

What's in a name? 
A child of shame 
A child of shame 
Becomes the lover of a King — 
How, who's to hlame. 

The Rou6 responded with Amours du duo 
de Choiseul avec sa sceur, and if all these 
poetic fusillades did no great harm, they 



56 MADAME DU BARRY. 

certainly did not advance the cause of 
either party. Some of these couplets pos- 
sessed a wit and piquancy that was quite 
entertaining; for instance, the following 
lines, referring to Madame du Barry: 

THE MODERN VENUS, 

Two Yemises, men say thera he, 
To govern the world is their lot; 

One was horn of the foain of the se^. 
And one of the scum of the pot. 

But a man arose, who quickly ended the 
struggle. He was a Gascon, a captain of 
the guard, named M. d'Espirac. He was 
a merry, reckless libertine, but brave and 
ambitious and resolved to obtain political 
preferment by any means and at any cost. 

He had remained, for some time, a silent 



MADAME DU BARRY. 57 

spectator of the struggle between the du 
Barry and Choiseul factions; then, one fine 
morning, he sought an interview with the 
Kou^. 

"Monsieur," he said to Count Jean, "the 
Choiseul party has a mouthpiece, a trumpet, 
which makes, parbleu ! very much noise." 

"Well?" interrogated the count. 

"Is it not possible to cork up the instru- 
ment and break the teeth of the musician?" 

"I wish it could be done." 

"Well, grant me an interview of one hour 
with Madame du Barry, and I will close the 
mouth of M. de Voltaire." 

The Eou^ looked at the Gascon. He ob- 
served in his eyes both cunning and energy, 
and in the masculine beauty of the face the 
courage of the soldier and the diplomacy of 
the courtier; he understood the man, and 



58 MADAME DU BARRY, 

immediately conducted him to the chamber 
of Madame du Barry. 

An hour later, the Gascon emerged from 
the chamber of Madame du Barry, left the 
palace, leaped upon the horse that was 
awaiting him and proceeded, in all haste, 
on the way to Paris. 

The captain alighted before the house oc- 
cupied by M. de Voltaire. He announced 
himself with all his titles and honors. The 
poet received him with all the courtesy and 
etiquette of a nobleman. 

Waiving all ceremonies, M. d'Espirac ap- 
proached M. de Voltaire, and brusquely de-, 
manded : 

"You are Monsieur Arouet?" 

"Monsieur!" indignantly exclaimed the 
writer, wounded in his most cherished 
vanity. 



MADAME DU BARRY, 59 

"Very good !" said the guardsman. "Your 
ancestry is well known. Your escutcheon 
should be ^vipers' tongues on a field of 
red.' " 

M. de Voltaire turned pale. 

"Oh ! have no fear !" said M. d'Espirac, "I 
shall not strike you. I came to give you a 
command and a warning. Here is the com- 
mand: speak not another word, write not 
another line about Madame du Barry or her 
friends. As to the warning '' 

The Gascon struck the hilt of his sword 
significantly and departed. 

From that moment, the presentation of 
Madame du Barry became a certainty. 

On the twenty-second day of April, 1769, 
the presentation was to be made. The King 
informed the court on the preceding even- 
ing. The announcement caused a commo- 



60 MADAME DU BARRY, 

tion and consternation amongst the ladies 
and gentlemen in waiting ; but there was no 
escape — the King's will was law. 

At the appointed hour, Louis XV. en- 
tered the grand salon at Versailles; at his 
side, were Richelieu and Choiseul ; whilst 
all the court was assembled, actuated by 
different feelings, either of curiosity, amuse- 
ment or rage. 

It was now past the hour and Madame du 
Barry did not appear. The King was ner- 
vous, Eichelieu was restless and Choiseul 
was triumphant. A half hour elapsed, al- 
most in silence, and yet the favorite had 
not appeared. Finally, just as the King 
was about to countermand the presentation, 
Eichelieu exclaimed : 

"Sire, here is Madame du Barry !" 



MADAME DU BARRY. 61 

The royal favorite appeared behind the 
Countess de B^arn. 

Adorned with all her diamonds; her gol- 
den hair arranged in an elegant coiffure ; in 
a magnificent robe that gave her added dig- 
nity and grace, Madame du Barry was so 
beautiful that a murmur of astonishment 
and admiration was heard in all parts of 
the salon. The appearance of the young 
woman was a revelation to the court, and 
Louis, trembling from pride and love, took 
his mistress by the hand and led her to the 
centre of the salon — and all the court bowed 
before her to whom alone belonged the 
honor of sharing in the love of a King. 



62 MADAME DU BARRY, 



CHAPTER VII. 

Now, the intrigues commenced to in- 
crease in number around Madame du 
Barry. Numerous efforts were made to 
supplant her in the favor of the King by 
presenting to his notice young women with 
equal if not greater charms than those pos- 
sessed by the favorite. But she thwarted 
all these schemes and held the King's good 
favor by means of her power of fascination. 

On the tenth of July, 1769, the King left 
Versailles to visit the camp at Cbmpiegne. 
Madame du Barry and the entire court ac- 
companied him. The royal cortege was a 
magnificent spectacle. Madame du Barry 



MADAME DU BARRY. 63 

appeared, for the first time, before the pub- 
lic in her character of roj^al favorite. Her 
carriage, bearing her coat-of-arms, was 
drawn by six superb horses, marvellously 
caparisoned, and her robe, from the hands 
of the most skilled workwomen in Paris, 
was of white satin, ornamented with gar- 
lands of gold, and bouquets of golden span- 
gles set with rubies. Madame de Pom- 
padour, in all her glory, had never attained 
such a degree of magnificence. 

On the twenty-second of July, on the 
plain of Koyal-Lieu, the King gave his mis- 
tress a rare spectacle, in the form of a 
grand military review. Before the favor- 
ite, there appeared the Swiss regiments of 
Boccard, Lachman, Sonnenberg, the Ger- 
man infantry of Koyal-Baviere, Deux- 
Ponts, the Esterhazy hussars and numer- 



64 MADAME DU BARRY. 

ous other regiments. But we are not here 
to record military manoeuvres; let us leave 
that duty to the historian of graver events. 
After the review, Madame du Barry, ex- 
hausted by the heat of the day, separated 
herself from her suite, and sought the shel- 
ter of some trees in a vast garden, situated 
near the camp. She was accompanied only 
by the young Marquise Anne-Marie de Mar- 
tenon. 

It. 

The two young women, enjoying in si- 
lence the grateful shade of the trees, the 
perfume of the flowers and the solitude of 
the forest, arrived at the border of a small 
lake, in which some white swans were idly 
floating, impelled by a gentle breeze. 

"Ah! what a charming spot!" exclaimed 
Madame du Barry, and, careless of her 
beautiful dress, she allowed herself to fall 



MADAME DU BARRY. 65 

on the soft grass. Mile. Anne-Marie fol- 
lowed her example, and they remained for 
several minutes in silent meditation. 

"My dear," said Madame du Barry, at 
last, "do you not think that a bath in this 
pond would be delightful?" 

"Ah, madame," replied the young girl, "I 
dared not speak of it, but the thought of it 
made my mouth water." 

"Well," said Madame du Barry, "there 
is no person in the wood — why not have a 
bath?" 

They looked around in every direction. 

"The wood is deserted," said Mile. Anne- 
Marie, "all the people are watching the sol- 
diers." 

And, after a glance rapidly exchanged, 
they commenced to disrobe. Quickly, silks, 
laces and petticoats fell upon the green 



66 MADAME DU BARRY. 

grass; silk stockings and high-heeled slip- 
pers were hidden in the bushes; and two 
nymphs, deliciously pink and white, ap- 
peared in the semi-obscurity of the wood. 

Then, like two antique dryads, with arms 
interlaced, they entered the water. Ah! 
how we envy the gentle waves that had the 
exquisite pleasure of touching that tender 
flesh. The majestic swans approached the 
two bathers, and perhaps we should have 
seen a repetition of the adventure of Leda, 
if the sound of a trumpet near at hand had 
not broken the silence. 

The King's mistress uttered a cry and 
ran toward the bank, followed by Mile. 
Anne-Marie, whilst the swans, also fright- 
ened, flapped their great wings and flew 
away. But, in their terror and confusion, 
the two nymphs were scarcely able to 



MADAME DU BARRY. 67 

clothe themselves, and in fact before they 
had succeeded in getting more than one 
garment on, four hussars came galloping 
toward them. 

The soldiers were as much astonished as 
the nymphs — but, perhaps, not as much 
frightened. Madame du Barry, seeing that 
escape was impossible, leaned against a 
tree, and looked at the soldiers whilst the 
little marquise crouched at her feet. 

An officer now arrived who recognized 
the King's mistress. The Colonel-Count 
Esterhazy, who had been a short distance 
away, had been informed of the adventure. 
Gallantly, he saluted the nymphs with his 
sword, formed the hussars into marching 
order, and the troop, after saluting the 
ladies, disappeared at a gallop. 

An hour later, Madame du Barry and her 



68 MADAME DU BARRY.. 

little friend entered her carriage, at the 
edge of the camp of Compiegne. The regi- 
ment of Beance passed by, having at the 
head of it Colonel de la Tour du Pin. The 
regiment of Beauce rendered to the car- 
riage of Madame dn Barry the same honors 
that are rendered to the carriages of the 
royal family, and the same that the Ester- 
hazy hussars had rendered to the nymphs 
at the lake. 

Thus, Madame du Barry had triumphed 
twice in one day — by her beauty and by her 
prestige. 

When Choiseul and his coterie heard of 
these incidents, they were wild with rage. 
The minister reprimanded M. de la Tour 
du Pin; but he received, the same evening, 
a letter from Louis XV., saying: 



MADAME DU BARRY, 69 

"I hear that you have reprimanded the 
Chevalier de la Tour du Pin on account of 
Madame du Barry, because she received, at 
the camp, the honors of the regiment of 
Beauce, 

"You promised me that you would never 
give me occasion to speak to you again on 
her account " 

The minister was reduced to silence. 



70 MADAME DU BARRY., 



CHAPTER VIII. 

One fine day, shortly after the events re- 
lated, in our last chapter, the Count Jean 
du Barry, His Majesty Louis XV., and 
Madame du Barry were supping with a 
young nobleman, whom the valets an- 
nounced under the name of the Marquis de 
Sade. 

Now, the Marquis de Sade had nothing 
in his personal appearance to signify that 
he was a man of vicious habits; nothing 
about him would indicate that he was a 
demon, a monster or a sanguinary vampire. 
But he was a man of the world, gay and 




LOUIS XV. AND MADAME DU BARRY. 

(71) 



MADAME DU BARRY.: 73 

reckless, endowed with all the elegances 
and graces of a veritable courtier, and pos- 
sessed of a figure that would seem to have 
been modelled after Apollo. Add to thes-e, 
two large eyes, of velvety blackness; red 
lips exquisitely formed; beautiful teeth of 
dazzling whiteness, a graceful carriage, 
easy gestures and a proud and noble bear- 
ing. 

Everything about the marquis indicated 
high birth and good fortune ; he had a taste 
for literature, and enough science to appre- 
ciate and enjoy the discussions of the en- 
cyclopedists and poets. In short, the mar- 
quis was regarded by his friends as a per- 
fect man. 

On the evening of his presentation to 
Madame du Barry, who welcomed him with 
her most gracious smile, the Marquis de 



74 MADAME DU BARRY. 

Sade was invited to a supper at which His 
Majesty the King was to assist, with Ma- 
dame du Barry, Madame de Grecourt, the 
little Marquise Anne-Marie de Martinon; 
and several actresses, including Mile. Ar- 
nould, for whom the Count de Lauraguais 
committed a thousand follies. Mile. Eau- 
court of the Comedie-Frangaise, and Mile, 
de Pric^ of the opera, who was as yet a 
debutante and had no titled lover. The 
Prince de Conde, the Due de Fronsac, the 
Count d'Espirac, the Count du Barry and 
the Duke d'Aiguillon represented the mas- 
culine sex, under the leadership of Louis 
XV., for the initiation of the Marquis de 
Sade to the pleasures of the court. 

The supper was one of unrivalled magni- 
ficence, and the guests were soon in merry 
mood. At dessert, the gentlemen were nar- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 75 

rating their various gallant adventures, 
when the Marquis de Sade exclaimed: 

"Certainly, at the present time, all Paris 
is talking of the adventures of M. de Fron- 
sae and M. de Lauraguais, but very soon 
someone will eclipse them." 

"And who w^ill do it, my dear marquis?" 

"I will, my dear count." 

"Ah! ah!" cried the Duke de Fronsac, 
"our good city of Paris is not dead yet. It 
has many lively days before it in which we 
can live and enjoy ourselves ere the advent 
of the cataclysm predicted by the encyclo- 
pedists." 

"The encyclopedists," said the Duke 
d'Aiguillon, "are like the members of Par- 
liament; they have never taken the waters 
of Cythera " 

"They are stupid," said Louis XV. 



76 MADAME DU BARRY. 

"Worse than that — eunuchs!" said the 
Duke de Fronsac. 

The waiters refilled the glasses with a 
certain wine of Bordeaux which sparkled 
like rubies. 

Gradually the supper assumed the fea- 
tures of a drunken revelry, followed by 
complete intoxication and unconscious- 
ness; and when the first rays of the rising 
sun entered through the windows of the 
salon, they discovered the royal head lying, 
inert, in the lap of Madame du Barry. 

On the evening of that day, the court was 
thrown into a great commotion by the oc- 
currence of three extraordinary events. 

At or about noon, Madame du Barry had 
entered the chamber of Anne-Marie de 
Martinon and there found the little mar- 
quise lying on her bed, naked, her breast 



MADAME DU BARRY. 77 

pierced with a long golden pin ; a smile was 
discernible on her face, but it was the face 
of the dead. 

Wishing to consult his daughter-in-law 
on some family affair, the Duke d'Estr^es 
entered the chamber of Madame de Gr6- 
court, about the same hour, and was as- 
tonished to find the young woman lying, 
naked, upon her bed, her breast pierced 
with a long golden pin — dead, with a smile 
upon her lips. 

And the aunt of Mile, de Pric^, aston- 
ished that her niece had not risen to attend 
the afternoon rehearsal at the opera, went 
to awaken her, and found, to her surprise, 
that the actress was lying on her bed, nude, 
with a long golden pin piercing her breast, 
the mouth half opened in a smile of pleas- 
ure — but quite dead. 



78 MADAME DU BARRY. 

It was a terrible scandal. The ladies of 
the court trembled Ydtli terror; the noble- 
men discussed the affair anxiously^ and the 
Duke de Eichelieu sought an audience with 
the King. 

His Majesty was engaged in a serious 
consultation with his physician; for the 
King felt that he was quickly declining in 
strength and vigor. 

"So, monsieur/' said Louis to his physi- 
cian, "you think I am travelling too fast 
— that I must take in some of m.y canvas." 

"No, Sire," replied the physician, grave- 
ly ; "to shorten sail would not be sufacient ; 
you must heave to and drop your anchor." 

At this moment, the Duke de Eichelieu 
was announced. Louis XV. made a ges- 
ture that he should be admitted. After re- 
spectfully saluting the King, Eichelieu re- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 79 

lated the particulars of the three tragic in- 
cidents. 

"Parbleu!" exclaimed the King, "the 
idea is novel and the method unique. 
Who is the man with the golden pins?" 

"Sire, no one knows." 

Then the King became pensive, and Rich- 
elieu and the doctor were silent. Sudden- 
ly, the King raised his head, and said in a 
calm voice: 

"Monsieur, the lieutenant of police will 
be instructed to investigate it. Let us 
speak of something else, duke. Are you 
acquainted with monsieur the Marquis de 
Sade?" 

"Sire, he was introduced to me yester- 
day." 

"You will bring him this evening to 
Madame du Barry's soirfe" 



80 MADAME DU BARRY., 

"As Your Majesty wishes." 

Kichelieu departed. But the liaison 
that the King conceived in his mind and 
kept silent, Eichelieu proclaimed every- 
where. Three hours later, the Marquis de 
Sade, on returning to his apartments, 
found there twenty-four letters, in which, 
in the most seductive terms, fifteen ladies 
of the court, five bourgeoises and four act- 
resses entreated the marquis to grant them 
a rendezvous. 

Such was the amorous folly that per- 
vaded the feverish pulses of Parisian wo- 
men, who simply regarded the three mur- 
ders, with the golden pins, as an incident 
of refined voluptuousness. 

Slowly, cautiously, officially, monsieur 
the lieutenant of police was investigating 
the affair. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 81 



CHAPTER IX. 

At the soiree of Madame du Barry — the 
evening after the three crimes — the Mar- 
quis de Sade appeared, elegantly dressed, 
painted and powdered, handsome as Apollo 
and proud as a prince of the blood. The 
ladies courted him, the gentlemen envied 
him, and the mystery that surrounded him 
— for the accusations were, as yet, mere 
suspicions — rendered him more interesting 
than a mere man of the world. 

However, one of the three victims of the 
assassin was Mile. Anne-Marie de Marti- 
non, an intimate friend and companion of 
Madame du Barry. 

When the King's mistress entered the 



83 MADAME DU BARRY. 

salon, her frowning face indicated her dis- 
pleasure. She seated herself before the 
gaming-table. At the same moment, the 
King was announced, and he took his place 
at the same table, opposite his mistress. 

"Sire," said Madame du Barry, in a loud 
voice, "last night, some person assassinated 
my dear friend Mile. Anne-Marie de Mar- 
tinon. Do you'^know who is the guilty per- 
son?" 

Throughout the salon, there was a pro- 
found silence; no one spoke, no one stirred. 
It was known that Madame du Barry was 
capricious and that her lover was submis- 
sive to her will. The name of the Marquis 
de Sade was upon every lip ; but the King, 
who had found the story of the three crimes 
a curious and diverting one, would not pro- 
nounce the name. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 83 

"Madame," he replied, "I have heard the 
death of your friend mentioned, but I do 
not know the name of the assassin. Who 
is the suspected person?" 

Immediately, Madame du Barry arose 
and, amidst the tremulous suspense of the 
assembled guests, she called out in a loud 
voice : 

"Monsieur the Marquis de Sade!" 

Calm and smiling, with his hand resting 
nonchalantly on the hilt of his court sword, 
the marquis advanced. 

"Madame," he said, bowing, "you were 
pleased to call me — ^here I am !" 

The King's mistress had not that gift of 
dissimulation so necessary at court. The 
cool attitude of the marquis imposed on her, 
and it was in a much less confident voice 



84 MADAME DU BARRY. 

that she replied — pointing a finger at the 
marquis : 

"Sire, here is the assassin!" 

The King, who was well aware that his 
mistress spoke truly, turned, smiling, to the 
marquis, and the latter, in reply to this 
mute interrogation, said: 

"Yes, Sire, I humbly confess to Your 
Majesty that it was I who killed not only 
Mile. Anne-Marie de Martinon, but like- 
wise Madame de Gr^court, the daughter-in- 
law of the Duke d'Estr^es, and Mile, de 
Pried, of the opera." 

At this avowal, made with such engaging 
cynicism, a murmur spread through the as- 
sembly; but the marquis, in nowise discon- 
certed, drew a paper from his pocket, un- 
folded it and handed it to the King. 

After the King had read it, he looked at 



MADAME DU BARRY. 85 

his mistress, then at the marquis, and burst 
into laughter. Eegardless of the rojal dig- 
nity, Madame du Barry seized the paper 
from the hands of the King, read it quickly, 
and, to the great astonishment of every one, 
gave the marquis her hand to kiss. 

Then, in response to the general curi- 
osity, the Duke de Kichelieu advanced to- 
ward His Majesty, and, after a reverence, 
said: 

"Sire, no doubt the conduct of the Mar- 
quis de Sade was influenced by some im- 
portant affair of state and that he acted 
for the welfare of the nation, as he appears 
to stand justified in your eyes — but, if the 
affair is not a secret, would Your Majesty 
deign to honor your most faithful servants 
with your confidence?" 

"I understand, duke, that you wish to 



86 MADAME DU BARRY. 

read the letter. Very well, here it is ; read 
it aloud." 

Thereupon the duke read the following 
letter in a voice audible to the entire assem- 
bly: 

^^To Mgr. the Duke de Choiseul, Prime Min- 
ister: 

"MoNSEiGNEUR : — I have the honor to ad- 
vise you that the friends of Madame de 
Grecourt intend to abduct Madame du 
Barry to-morrow, whilst she is taking her 
promenade in the gardens, and carry her to 
Belgium. At the same moment, and one 
after the other, Mile, de Martinon, Madame 
de Grecourt and Mile, de Price will be pre- 
sented to the King and endeavor to displace 
Madame du Barry in his affections. 

"Therefore, monseigneur, all your orders 
are executed." 

"The letter is not signed," said the duke, 



MADAME DU BARRY, 87 

"but its authenticity is established by the 
fact that M. de Choiseul has placed his seal 
in one corner, with this word ^agreed.' " 

The Marquis de Sade was immediately 
surrounded by the gentlemen and ladies, 
who congratulated him on having saved 
Madame du Barry from a horrible con- 
spiracy and on having averted the guilty 
project of M. de Choiseul by killing his ac- 
complices. He was praised, also, for hav- 
ing despatched them in such a gallant man- 
ner. Then, the King,' addressing Madame 
du Barry, said: 

"Well, madame, what do you think of 
it?" 

"Sire, I thing the Duke de Choiseul 
should be punished and the Marquis de 
Sade recompensed." 

"I will take charge of the punishment," 



88 MADAME DU BARRY, 

replied the King; "you attend to the recom- 
pense." 

The King then departed. The same 
evening, the Duke de Choiseul was notified 
of his disgrace ; the punishment was not de- 
layed — nor was the recompense. Madame 
du Barry had nothing to present to the 
Marquis more precious than herself. 

Next day, when the King asked her what 
recompense she had given the Marquis de 
Sade, she replied: 

"Sire, I gave him a diamond out of your 
crown." 

"That is well," said Louis. He did not 
inquire what the diamond was ; he was con- 
vinced that the recompense was worthy of 
'the action. 



MADAME DU BARRY, 89 



CHAPTER X. 

The news of the dismissal of the Duke de 
Choiseul astonished the court at Versailles, 
and astounded the good citizens of Paris. 
The parliament regarded him as a firm 
friend and knew that his successor would 
be selected from the du Barry party and 
therefore be an enemy. The nobility were 
attached to Choiseul as being one of their 
own class. 

He may not have been a statesman of the 
first class, but, compared with the other 
members of the court, he was a superior 
man and devoted to the duties of his office. 



90 MADAME DU BARRY. ' 

The mistakes he made were attributable to 
the head rather than the heart. He was 
usually actuated by patriotic motives in all 
affairs of state. Consequently, his down- 
fall was received with feelings of regret by 
the people, who were almost terrified at the 
prospect of falling into the impure hands 
of the favorite — "less respectable than a 
collier's wife/' as Bauveau said of her. 

The result was that his downfall in- 
creased his popularity, and all Paris turned 
out to bid him farewell as he departed for 
his country home at Chanteloup. The 
poorer classes turned out on foot, and the 
nobility accompanied him a short distance 
in their carriages; he was greeted on all 
sides by mournful sighs and expressions of 
sympathy. 

However, no sooner had Choiseul passed 



MADAME DU BARRY. 91 

th,e gates of Paris on his pilgrimage of exile 
before the same people who had bid him a 
sad farewell were on their way to Luciennes 
to congratulate Madame du Barry on her 
victory over the prime minister. Amongst 
them was the Duke d'Aiguillon, who was 
an aspirant for the vacant oflSce, and being 
a favorite of the King's favorite he stood 
an excellent chance of becoming ChoiseuFs 
successor. 

When next the King visited Madame du 
Barry at Luciennes, the first topic of con- 
versation was the dismissal of Choiseul. 
Louis was in a good humor and the moment 
seemed to be propitious; consequently, 
Madame du Barry lost no time in broach- 
ing the subject. 

"Well, Sire," she said, "I am happy to- 
day. I have lost my greatest enemy." 



92 MADAME DU BARRY. 

"Yes," said Louis, "and I am miserable 
because I have lost a good minister." 

"I understood, Sire, that you had already 
secured a successor, and an able one, too." 

"Not yet. I wish I could." 

"I have one ready-made; a man of spirit, 
brave and zealous in his defence of the 
royal prerogatives — a model peer." 

"Who is it?" 

"The Duke d'Aiguillon." 

"What, Countess! Is it possible you 
recommend such a man; a firebrand who 
has the parliament against him, and all 
France demands his exile. I admit his de- 
votion to the monarchy, but he lacks dis- 
cretion and makes many enemies." 

"That is because he is young and inex- 
perienced, but he will quickly improve. 
You must appoint him." 



MADAME DU BARRY,, 93 

"Why so?" 

"To please me, Sire, You sent Choiseul 
away at my request, therefore I should se- 
cure you a successor, and I have done so. 
The matter is settled and we will say no 
more about it." 

And Madame Du Barry smothered the 
King with caresses and kisses to avoid 
further argument, and the result was that 
she had her own way. 

On the following week, the court cele- 
brated the nomination of the Duke d'Aiguil- 
lon as minister of foreign affairs. The 
supper took place at the hotel of the Duke 
de la Vrilliere. The King appeared there 
in a radiant mood. All the foreign min- 
isters were present, as well as the most 
prominent members of the court of France. 
No one knew of the nomination in advance 



94 MADAME DU BARRY. 

and when the King announced it, it was a 
complete surprise. The guests were so 
amazed and astounded at the unexpected 
news, that the Duke received no compli- 
ments or congratulations, and throughout 
the supper the most majestic silence was 
maintained. Evidently, the announcement 
was pleasing only to the King and his mis- 
tress. 

Henceforth, during the remainder of his 
reign, Madame du Barry maintained the 
most absolute control over her royal lover. 
The King remarked, one day, that she was 
the only woman in France who knew the 
secret of making him forget that he was a 
sexagenarian. 

She shared her powers with d'Aiguillon, 
and together they were the virtual rulers 



MADAME DU BARRY, 95 

of France. Louis the Fifteenth desired 
nothing more than a life of ease and luxury, 
free from political cares. To him, a throne 
was not so desirable as a realm of "wine 
and women." 



96 MADAME DU BARRY., 



CHAPTER XI. 

The numerous f6tes that Madame du 
Barry gave to the court during the year 
1774 did not prevent the King from declin- 
ing in health and strength. His Majesty 
was now in his sixty- fourth year; with a 
constitution weakened by debauchery, his 
system could not withstand the ravages of 
an acute disease or even the frequent bleed- 
ings that physicians of that day resorted to 
in every illness. 

At Trianon, on the 27th of April, Louis 
the Fifteenth was struck down with a sud- 
den illness. He was about to engage in a 
hunting expedition, but did not feel equal 



MADAME DU BARRY. 97 

to the exertion; he retired to the apart- 
ments of Madame du Barry for rest and a 
stimulant. He complained of a severe 
headache and attributed it to indigestion. 

During the night, he became much worse ; 
he was seized with a violent fever and, at 
times, he was delirious. The royal physi- 
cians, Lemonnier and La Martinier, to- 
gether with M. Bordeu, who was Madame 
du Barry's physician, were summoned and, 
after a consultation, they decided to bleed 
the patient. At that period, the letting of 
blood was considered a panacea for all the 
ills that flesh is heir to. Whilst these 
learned persons were gravely proceeding 
with this operation — a remedy more terri- 
ble than the disease — the members of the 
court as well as the citizens were in a state 
of anxiety. Ambition and hatred were 



98 MADAME DU BARRY. 

aroused, and both parties — that of Madame 
du Barry and that of Choiseul — showed 
their teeth and openly defied each other. 

The Duke de Kichelieu and the Duke de 
Fronsae established themselves permanent- 
ly in the ante-chamber to the King's apart- 
ment for the express purpose of excluding 
the clergy and the friends of Choiseul from 
the King's presence. 

On the following day, Saturday, 30th of 
April, the learned physicians held another 
grave consultation and decided, with much 
reluctance, that their royal patient was 
suffering from smallpox. This time they 
were right. One of the physicians ventured 
the opinion that the disease might not take 
a serious turn, but M. Bordeu exclaimed : 

"What, not serious! The smallpox at 
sixty-four years, and with such a debilitated 



MADAME DU BARRY^ 99 

constitution as that of the King! Why, it 
is terrible!" 

On Sunday, May 1st, the Archbishop of 
Paris called to pay his official visit. When, 
at eleven o^clock, tlie distinguished prelate 
presented himself at the door of the King's 
ante-chamber, the Duke de Richelieu has- 
tened to meet him and, after a most respect- 
ful salutation, enquired: 

"Monseigneur, how can I serve your emi- 
nence?" 

"Ah! Monsieur the duke, I wish to see 
His Majesty — I have come to confess him." 

"To confess his Majesty ! Morbleu ! Mon- 
seigneur, do you think then that the King 
is ready to die — " 

"I cannot tell, duke." 

"Then," replied the duke, "we cannot 
run the risk of killing him with your theo- 



100 MADAME DU BARRYj, 

logical worries. What sins will he confess 
to you? Would you not prefer to listen to 
mine? They would be much more interest- 
ing. Will your eminence be pleased to re- 
ceive my confession? My sins are pretty, 
dainty, gay, novel, witty — I swear to your 
eminence that no archbishop ever heard the 
like!" 

"Nevertheless, duke," stammered the pre- 
late, half -laughing, half indignant 

But Eichelieu conducted the archbishop 
to the embrasure of a window and, assum- 
ing a serious tone, said : 

"I do not suppose, monseigneur, that you 
wish to injure or even annoy Madame du 
Barry, who is our friend. To confess the 
King would lead him to think that he is 
about to die, and would result in his send- 
ing away Madame du Barry, his greatest 



MADAME DU BARRY. 101 

sin; besides, it would prepare the triumph 
of M. de Choiseul, your enemy and the 
friend of the parliament " 

Then, lowering his voice, he added: 

"Do you know the words of Madame du 
Barry, monseigneur? She said: 'Let the 
archbishop leave us alone, and he shall have 
a cardinaPs cap — I promise it.' " 

The two men remained silent for a mo- 
ment; their eyes met, their hands were 
joined in a significant pressure and, a quar- 
ter of an hour later, the archbishop left the 
King's chamber without having spoken of 
a confession. 

But the Choiseul party was not to be so 
easily vanquished. The Cardinal de la 
Roche- Aymon and the Bishop of Carcasonne 
were induced to present themselves and 
offer to confess the King. Richelieu and 



102 MADAME DU BARRYj 

Fronsac were watchful and doughty senti- 
nels; they threatened to throw the Curd of 
Versailles through the window if he ven- 
tured to speak to the King about a confes- 
sion. 

"If I am not killed/' replied the curd, 
"I will return through the door; it is my 
right and duty." 

Whilst these controversies were in prog- 
ress, the King was dying. 

At this time the austere countenance of 
Madame Louise of France, the religious 
princess, appeared at Versailles. She was 
the King's eldest daughter, and her devout 
nature had been so shocked by the immoral 
conduct of the King and his court that she 
had sought refuge in a convent at the time 
of Madame du Barry's presentation at 
court. Learning of her father's severe ill- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 103 

ness, she had left the cloister to see that his 
spiritual wants were administered to, that 
he might die in a manner befitting a Chris- 
tian monarch. 

The arrival of the princess in the King's 
ante-chamber caused great consternation 
amongst the courtiers, who immediately 
slunk away. Madame du Barry was at the 
King's bedside when Madame Louise en- 
tered the chamber, but she also silently 
stole away, after having made a respectful 
obeisance to the princess. 

"My daughter!" murmured the King, 
opening his eyes, heavy with pain and fe- 
ver. 

"Yes, Sire," said the princess, "your 

daughter." 

"And you have come " 

"To remind you of the God you have 



104 MADAME DU BARRY. 

neglected and forgotten. It is time you 
recalled Him to your thoughts, and cast 
away your sins." 

"My daughter ! I hope I am not so near 
death as to require any such change. My 
illness is trifling — I shall soon be better." 

"Never, Sire!" said the princess, solemn- 
ly, "your illness is a fatal one. When a 
member of the royal family is laid low with 
malignant smallpox it is time to summon 
the prelates of the Church." 

"Madame!" exclaimed the King, in great 
agitation, "it is not smallpox. Ask my 
physicians. Bordeu! is it smallpox? . . . 
speak ! I command you I" 

The physicians remained silent. 

"You see, Sire, that I am right. Your 
physicians dare not tell you, but I am not 
afraid to speak the truth. Summon a pre- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 105 

late to confess you, and make your peace 
with Heaven." 

The knowledge that he had smallpox 
came upon the King like a thunderbolt, and 
he suffered a momentary collapse. 

"Madame," said the physician, Bordeu, 
"you are killing the King." 

The princess relented at her own harsh- 
ness as she looked at the helpless monarch. 
She approached him, and covered his hand 
with kisses. 

"Forgive me, Sire, but I feel it is my re- 
ligious duty to warn you of your danger, and 
advise you of your obligations to your God. 
Heed my words, and allow the archbishop 
to confess you and administer the last rites 
of our Holy Church. Promise me that, and 
I can then depart in peace." 

The King gave her the desired promise. 



106 MADAME DU BARRY.^ 

and she at once gave directions to the phy- 
sicians to allow the Archbishop of Paris to 
see the King; he came the same day and 
remained about twenty minutes, during 
which time the King confessed and received 
the sacrament. 

The body of the King was covered with 
pustules and leprosy. He was decompos- 
ing even before death. 

Knowing that he was soon to die, Louis 
wished to see once more and for the last 
time the woman he loved, and, at the same 
time, send her away in order that he might 
merit the absolution of all his sins. He re- 
quested the Duke d^4.iguillon to call Mad- 
ame du Barry and did so in language so 
tender and loving that she anticipated a 
final triumph over her enemies. She en- 



MADAME DU BARRY.: 107 

tered, radiant, more beautiful, more seduc- 
tive, more lovable than ever. 

Alas! the illusion was of short duration. 
The King motioned her to approach his bed, 
and said to her in a low voice : 

"Madame, I am very ill and I know what 
I should do. We must separate. You go 
to Euel, to M. d'Aiguillon's chateau; be as- 
sured of my continued friendship r.nd most 
tender affection." 

It was disgrace in extremis. Over- 
whelmed by her grief, and choking with 
sobs, Madame du Barry was quite uncon- 
scious of the parting caresses of her royal 
lover; she left the chamber without a word. 

Immediately after her departure, Louis 
asked for her again, and stammered, in a 
trembling voice, in the first stages of delir- 
ium: 



108 MADAME DU BARRY, 

"Ah! she has gone — and now I must go 
also. How does one pray to St. Gene- 
vieve ^^ 

Death soon came to his relief. 

Some hours later, the door of the grand 
salon, wherein were assembled the highest 
members of the French nobility, was opened 
and a gentleman-in- waiting announced in a 
loud voice: 

"Gentlemen, the King is dead — from 
smallpox." 

Every head was bowed, and amidst the 
rustling of the garments which rubbed one 
against the other, a voice was heard to ex- 
claim : 

"Gentlemen, it could not be smallpox — 
everything is grand with the King!" 

Such was the manner in which His Maj- 
esty Louis the Fifteenth, the well-beloved, 
made his exit from this world. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 109 



CHAPTER XII. 

Pursuant to the injunction of the dying 
monarch, Madame du Barry left Versailles 
on Monday, the fifth day of May, and went 
directly to d'Aiguillon's chateau at Ruel, 
at which place, five days later, she received 
the news of the King's death. It was a sad 
blow, from which she had not recovered 
when she received the following letter : 

"Versailles, May 12, 1774. 
"I trust, madame, that you will under- 
stand the pain I experience in being com- 
pelled to advise you that you are prohibited 
from again appearing at court. But I am 
obliged to execute the orders of the King, 
who charges me to notify you not to come 
to court again without his permission. His 



110 'MADAME DU BARRY. 

Majesty also expresses a desire that you 
should at once visit Madame the Abbess of 
the convent Pont-aux-Dames, and I shall 
write to-day to the abbess that she may ex- 
pect you, and prepare to receive you. You 
will please send me an acknowledgment of 
your receipt of this letter, that I may satis- 
fy His Majesty that I have executed his 
orders. 

"I have the honor, madame, to be your 
very humble and very obedient servant. 

"De Lavrillere." 

It was a letter of banishment, couched in 
very mild terms; but Madame du Barry 
cared not for the language — it was ban- 
ishment all the same. At first, she suc- 
cumbed to grief, but soon rallied and, in a 
transport of rage, she threw the letter at 
the courier who had brought it. 

"A noble King, indeed," she exclaimed, 



MADAME DU BARRY. HI 

"who commences his reign with a letter oil 
banishment !" 

Nevertheless she must obey it. The 
fallen favorite prepared for the journey to 
the convent of Pont-aux-Dames, of which 
Madame Quantity, the sister of Madame du 
Barry's mother, was the abbess. She made 
the journey in a carriage drawn by six 
horses, and accompanied by one maid; a 
carriage followed behind in which were 
two people, one of whom was an agent of 
police. 

The members of Madame du Barry's 
court were immediately dispersed, followed 
by the jeers, songs and puns of the entire 
nation. 

The Count Jean du Barry, the Rou^, 
abandoned his mistress, his flatterers and 
his dupes, and retired to Lausanne. 



112 MADAME DU BARRY. 

At Pont-aux-Dames, the seclusion of the 
ex-mistress of the King was at first com- 
plete. She could see only her jeweller, the 
abbess and the good sisters, who could not 
repress exclamations of astonishment at 
sight of her who had lived at court and 
had been almost a queen. 

Madame du Barry soon became accus- 
tomed to the solitude, the silence and sleepy 
tranquillity of the cloister. She charmed 
everyone in the convent by her politeness, 
her gentleness, her generosity, and very soon 
her friends came to see her. Mile, du Barry, 
Mile, de Tournon visited her. Her servants 
were allowed to continue in her service ; and 
Ledoux, the architect of Luciennes, added 
a wing to the abbey for the private use of 
the exile. 

She passed her days in promenading be- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 113 

neath the arches of the cloister, gentle but 
melancholy, and was becoming quite at- 
tached to the convent and reconciled to her 
solitary life, when, one day, she received 
the King's permission to leave it — but not 
to return to the court. 

She now purchased a small estate known 
as Saint- Vrain, near Arpajon, and invited 
the Duke d'Aiguillon and his wife to visit 
her there. The nobility of that neighbor- 
hood also visited with her, and she enjoyed 
all the amusements the country afforded; 
yet she suffered from ennui and continued 
to regret the loss of her old home at 
Luciennes. 

She was much annoyed by the pressing 
demands of her creditors, and her sole di- 
version was in playing cards, at which she 
often lost enormous sums which her friends 



114 MADAME DU BARRY.) 

did not venture to claim from her. One 
evening, in a spirit of desperation, she lost 
at a sitting the sum of ninety thousand 
livres to the Chevalier de Langles. 

But, on the following day, she received 
unexpected news that filled her heart with 
joy ; Maurepas had obtained for her permis- 
sion to return to and occupy her chateau 
at Luciennes which Louis XV. had given 
her. 

Madame du Barry was happy. 

The chateau at Luciennes was a temple 
of love and beauty. Gold, bronze, wood- 
carving, the paintings of great masters, the 
most brilliant jewels, the richest tapestries, 
all the refinements of taste and luxury 
were gathered there in bewildering abun- 
dance. 

Luciennes was a square pavilion, with five 



MADAME DU BARRY. 115 

windows on each side, which opened on a 
peristyle of four columns, the front of 
which displayed a childish revel cut in bas- 
relief by Lecomte. 

Paintings by Watteau, Boucher, Fragon- 
ard ; marble statues by Pajou, Lecomte and 
Moineau adorned the dining hall, the salon 
and bed-chamber — her bed alone had cost 
for gilding, the sum of five thousand nine 
hundred livres. The bronzes were from the 
studio of Gouthiere, whose work rivalled, 
in skill and finish, the specimens of antique 
art which are preserved in the museum at 
Naples. The ceilings were painted to re- 
semble a slightly clouded sky through which 
cupids were flying with messages of love. 

Luciennes! the palace of a merry sover- 
eign, gay, beautiful and artistic, the re- 
fined expression of the art and pleasures 



116 MADAME DU BARRY. 

of the eighteenth century. Lueiennes, in 
which nothing but Love could exist! 

After a very hasty preparation, she set 
out for Lueiennes and entered her old home 
with feelings of joy and satisfaction. It 
was the only home she had ever had, and the 
happiest years of her life had been spent 
there. All she wished now was that she 
might have the privilege of spending the re- 
maining years of her life at Lueiennes in 
peaceful retirement. 



MADAME DU BARRY., 117 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Shortly after her return to Luciennes, a 
change occurred in the life of Madame du 
Barry. Hitherto, the various amours, that 
formed the greater part of her existence, 
had been but passing incidents in her ac- 
tive life — formed to-day, dissolved to-mor- 
row, and had made no impression on her 
capricious nature. Her heart had remained 
untouched. Now, however, she sacrificed 
herself to Venus — probably in an effort to 
console herself for the loss of her former 
grandeur. She became the lover of Lord 
Seymour. 

In the calm solitude of Luciennes a new 



118 MADAME DU BARRY., 

Madame du Barry was born and developed. 
The courtesan, the royal favorite of the 
kingdom of France, the woman of the pam- 
phlets, of the romances, and songs, has en- 
tirely disappeared, and, in her place, has 
arisen the woman who loves. 

The manner in which Madame du Barry 
first acquired a friendship with Lord Sey- 
mour, the English ambassador to the Court 
of France, was not at all romantic, and did 
not foreshadow the approaching passion. 

Lord Seymour had a sick daughter in 
whom Madame du Barry became interested, 
and she wrote several letters to the noble 
father expressing her hope and solicitude for 
the recovery of the child. Gradually the 
letters became more intimate. Madame du 
Barry entered, by degrees, and perhaps un- 
consciously, those fairy regions of the King- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 119 

dom of Love which inspired the paintings of 
Boucher, Watteau and Lancret; a new and 
charming existence opened before her, into 
which she entered with joyful anticipation. 

Lord Seymour visited her at Luciennes. 
He was a man of imposing appearance, half 
English and half French, a nobleman and 
a gallant in every sense of the word. He 
paid court to the ex-favorite, and Madame 
du Barry, who was favorably predisposed 
toward him, very soon abandoned herself 
entirely to this new passion, which was, 
undoubtedly, her first excursion into the 
realms of genuine love. 

One day, seated idly in an easy chair, 
alone in her dainty boudoir at Luciennes, 
she had abandoned herself to reverie and 
melancholy. In imagination, the handsome 
Englishman was before her eyes; she read 



120 MADAME DU BARRY.' 

again some of his letters, which were 
couched in language which breathed a ten- 
der and respectful attachment, though dis- 
playing at times a trace of the frivolous gal- 
antries of a courtier of the period. Then, 
actuated by the passions evoked by the let- 
ters, she seated herself at her writing table 
and wrote the following letter to her lover : 

"Thursday, two o'clock. 
"The assurances of your love, my dearest 
friend, constitute my only happiness in life. 
My heart finds these two days very long, and 
is filled with regret that it cannot shorten 
the hours or quicken their passage. I trust 
that I will see you on Saturday, and until 
then I await you with all the impatience 
of a soul that is entirely devoted to you. 
Can you ask or desire anything more? 

"Adieu." 



MADAME DU BARRY. 121 

Madame du Barry rang a bell, and her 
black page, Zamore, who still served her in 
her exile, showed through the half-opened 
door, a chubby black face in which his thick 
red lips formed a heavy arch. 

"Here," she said, "this letter is to be sent 
to Lord Seymour at once." 

Zamore took the letter and disappeared. 

Now, that she had definitely given her- 
self to her lover, Madame du Barry felt 
more contented, and the next two days 
passed in comparative tranquillity. Satur- 
day forenoon, she wandered for several 
hours through the gardens of Luciennes, im- 
patient, with tears in her eyes, fearful that 
some accident might detain her noble lover. 

Finally, the sound of carriage wheels 
rolling over the gravel drives of the park 
reached the ears of Madame du Barry. 



122 MADAME DU BARRY., 

Seized with a sudden modesty, she retired 
to her chamber. When Lord Seymour en- 
tered, the poor woman remained upon the 
sofa., with lowered head, blushing and con- 
fused, whilst two tears coursed down her 
cheeks. 

"Ah! this is strange!" said the lord, 
"when I arrive madame weeps." 

"Oh ! my dear friend " 

Then, rising from the sofa, she allowed 
herself to fall into the arms of the ambassa- 
dor. For the first time in her life, Madame 
du Barry had, this day, given herself 
through feelings of love, and no longer 
through vice, ambition, or fear. To her, 
this was the beginning of a new life — a life 
of greater purity and joy than she had be- 
fore experienced. 

Three times a week, Lord Seymour visited 



MADAME DU BARRY. 123 

Luciennes, and each time he found his lover 
younger, fresher, prettier than before. A 
new woman had arisen from the ashes of 
the royal favorite, with all the delicate ten- 
derness, the coy modesty and the charming 
naivete of innocent girlhood. 

To be sure, Madame du Barry was yet 
quite young, and her soul recovered that 
youthful freshness which it had lost very 
early in life; consequently. Lord Seymour, 
who had known Madame du Barry as the 
favorite at Versailles, was astonished and 
delighted to discover in her the tender pas- 
sion of a young girl. 

Nevertheless, he soon wearied of her 
charms, and confessed to himself that his 
heart was no longer at Luciennes. The 
reason for this change he did not know, 
nor did he seek to discover it. His visits 



124 MADAME DU BARRY. 

to Luciennes became less frequent, and his 
letters shorter and less affectionate. 

After having experienced the joys of re- 
ciprocated affection, Madame du Barry suf- 
fered greatly when she first discovered the 
increasing apathy of her lover, and his ap- 
parent neglect of her. It was the first time 
she had suffered the pangs of despised love. 

But she had a generous nature, full of 
tenderness and sympathy. She wrote to her 
errant lover this admirable letter which, 
by its noble tenderness and resigned abne- 
gation almost redeemed a life of debauchery 
and frivolity: 

"Wednesday, midnight. 

"It is useless to tell you of my affection 

and my sympathy — you know of it. But 

what you do not know is the depth of my 

sorrow; you have not deigned to comfort 



MADAME DU BARRY. 125 

and assure me in respect to that which af- 
fects my soul. Thus, I believe that my 
peace and happiness affect you very little; 
it is with feelings of regret that I speak of 
it, but it is for the last time. My mind is 
tranquil ; my heart suffers. But with cour- 
age and lapse of time, I will survive the 
wound. Adieu; believe me that you alone 
will occupy my heart." 

Love purifies and sorrow ennobles. Mad- 
ame du Barry was at once purified and en- 
nobled. Lord Seymour had gone forever; 
henceforth, she passed her days, more deso- 
late, more gentle, more melancholy than 
ever. She amused herself at times by wear- 
ing the dresses and jewels in which her 
lover had seen her, and, sometimes, on ris- 
ing in the morning, she looked at herself 
in the glass, pleased to see the form and 
features that he had loved. 



126 MADAME DU BARRY. 

When the autumn leaves fell from the 
trees in the park at Luciennes and were 
scattered by the winds, the love of Madame 
du Barry gradually melted from her heart. 
Very soon, it was no more than a tender 
memory. Yet a wonderful charm still 
clung to that beautiful woman who wan- 
dered through the deserted pathways of the 
park, alone and melancholy; that woman 
who had known the splendor of a throne, 
the couch of a King and, at last, the love 
of a man. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 127 



CHAPTER XIV. 

It is not necessary to relate in detail the 
other amours of the capricious Madame 
du Barry. Suffice it to say that, having 
once tasted the joys and delights of genu- 
ine, disinterested love, she never afterward 
bestowed her favors upon a man who did 
not first acquire some share in her affec- 
tions. At the time of her return to Lu- 
ciennes she was still a young woman of 
thirty years, as beautiful, witty and affec- 
tionate as ever. It is not surprising, there- 
fore, that she had many visitors and ad- 
mirers who followed her to her charming 
retreat to tender her their sympathy and 
love. 

Consequently, she found, in the latter 
years of her life a peace and happiness 
amongst friends who sought her society be- 



128 MADAME DU BARRY, 

cause they entertained for her a certain de- 
gree of affection, unmixed with political in- 
trigue. Some months after Lord Seymour 
had deserted her, she bestowed her affec- 
tions on the Duke de Coss^-Brissac, one of 
the greatest noblemen in the Kingdom ; and, 
after his love began to wane, she received 
the attentions of the Marquis de Rohan- 
Chabot. 

Whilst these noblemen were paying hom- 
age to Madame du Barry at Luciennes and 
reciting to her madrigals of the ancient 
regime, the Revolution was brewing at Paris 
and Versailles. The people had already 
taken the Bastille, the King was tottering 
on his throne, and the guillotine had become 
the daily amusement of the rabble who de- 
lighted in its cruel horrors. It is not the 
purpose of this work to dwell upon the 
atrocities of the Revolution, except in so far 
as they have a direct bearing and a per- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 129 

sonal connection with the heroine of these 
chronicles. The wave of terror swept over 
Luciennes and carried away the Duke de 
Cosse-Brissac, who met his fate on the 
scaffold. Thenceforth, all sorts of misfor- 
tunes overwhelmed Madame du Barry, who 
compromised herself by her association with 
aristocrats and was soon classed amongst 
the suspects herself. 

Her jewels were stolen from her, and the 
voyages she made to England in an effort 
to recover them were regarded by the revo- 
lutionists as overt acts of high treason. 
Whilst she was in London, Louis the Six- 
teenth was put to death at the guillotine, 
and because Madame du Barry chanced to 
be wearing a black dress at the time, she 
was afterward accused of wearing mourn- 
ing for the King, which was another trea- 
sonable act in the eyes of the new tyrants 
of Franca 



130 MADAME DU BARRY. 

Her servants were bribed and hired to be- 
tray her. Her friends were condemned to 
the guillotine, and she was finally cited to 
appear before the revolutionary tribunal. 
That was the beginning of the end ; the first 
act of the tragedy. It occurred on the 
twenty-second day of September, 1793. 

On that day, a. man named Greive, an un- 
scrupulous adventurer, a disappointed man 
of letters, a brutal sans-culotte, a debauchee, 
and one of the most vindictive factionists, 
visited Luciennes accompanied by two gen- 
darmes and several municipal officers of 
Luciennes. He asked for Madame du Barry, 
and when she appeared, pale and trembling, 
he exhibited to her the order of arrest, 
placed seals on her apartments, and forced 
the poor woman to get into a small, incom- 
modious vehicle that already contained two 
gendarmes. 

On the way to Paris, they met the cabrio- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 131 

let of the Chevalier d'Escourt. Greive made 
him deliver up his cabriolet to the uses of 
the state, and, leaving the two gendarmes 
in the other carriage, he caused Madame du 
Barry to enter the cabriolet into which he 
followed her and took a seat at her side. 

Then, this noble defender of his country, 
this destroyer of tyrants, tried to smile and 
display an affable disposition whilst he un- 
folded to Madame du Barry a means of es- 
cape from the guillotine. He based her 
safety upon a condition that he thought 
would not be revolting to one who had been 
a mistress to a King. Her only reply was 
to give him a slap in the face, and when he 
continued his insulting advances, she made 
violent outcries, which were heard by the 
gendarmes, who immediately ran to the 
cabriolet to ascertain their cause. Greive 
informed the gendarmes that the prisoner 
was making efforts to escape, and instructed 



132 MADAME DU BARRY.\ 

them to watch her closely. He then re- 
turned to the other carriage in a furious 
temper, and firmly resolved to send Madame 
du Barry to the scaffold. 

The prisoner and her captors continued 
on their way to Paris, and stopped on the 
bank of the Seine in front of the sullen-look- 
ing prison called the Conciergerie. The 
gendarmes knocked at the entrance with the 
handles of their swords, the gate opened, 
the carriages entered the court and Madame 
du Barry was in her last earthly home. As 
she stepped from the cabriolet and gazed 
upon the dark grey walls and small iron- 
grated windows, her heart sank within her ; 
it was surely the Hold of Death. Exhausted 
by her wearisome journey, and overcome by 
despair, she was so weak that the gendarmes 
had to support her on her way to the office 
of the concierge. 

This official, citizen Richard, was a man 



MADAME DU BARRY, 133 

of compassionate nature, who entertained 
a feeling of sympathy for the unfortunate 
females who were placed in his charge. He 
mitigated, so far as lay in his power, the 
hardships of their prison life. Conse- 
quently, when Madame du Barry appeared 
before him in such a helpless condition, he 
regarded her with amazement and sym- 
pathy. The concierge was brought to a 
sense of his duty by Greive, who said 
roughly : 

"Come, Citizen Richard, get your book 
and write quickly. We are pressed for time 
and lots of work to do." 

The concierge opened a large register and, 
with pen in hand, asked the prisoner : 

"Your name and surname, citoyenne?" 

"Jeanne Gomard de Vaubernier, the 
Countess du Barry,'' she replied, repeating 
her title with an assumption of pride. 



134 MADAME DU BARRY., 

"Add to that, the title of 'ex-mistress to 
Louis the Fifteenth,' " said Greiva 

"Your age?'' continued the concierge. 

"Forty-seven," was the reply. 

Kichard wrote this down, then the de- 
scription, and finished with the usual notes 
and remarks. "That is all," he said. 

The prisoner was thereupon conducted to 
her cell. 

From that hour, this unfortunate woman 
was at the mercy of the revolutionists, who 
treated her with dastardly infamy. Her 
only crime was in the fact that she had once 
been loved by a King. 

Her chateau at Luciennes was pillaged 
from cellar to attic, and its famous paint- 
ings and artistic decorations destroyed. 
The vindictive Greive, together with Sale- 
nave, a former servant who had been dis- 
charged from Luciennes on account of his 
thefts and misconduct, perused the private 



MADAME DV BARRY. 135 

correspondence of the prisoner. They ap- 
propriated her jewels, and carried away and 
bestowed on their own mistresses the ele- 
gant robes, hats, laces and undergarments 
of the former concubine of the tyrant Louis 
the Fifteenth. 

When they had thoroughly robbed Ma- 
dame du Barry of her earthly possessions, 
including the confiscation of the chateau it- 
self, nothing remained but to assassinate 
her. That task would devolve upon the revo- 
lutionary tribunal and the public execu- 
tioner. 

It was a strange coincidence that the cell 
occupied by Madame du Barry in the con- 
ciergerie was the one formerly occupied by 
the ill-fated Marie-Antoinette. It seemed 
as if it were her destiny to usurp until 
death the place and the bed of a queen. 



136 MADAME DU BARRY, 



CHAPTER XV. 

TWO months after her arrest, Madame du 
Barry was subjected to the preliminary in- 
quisition. She defended herself courageous- 
ly against the ignoble and ridiculous accu- 
sations that Greive and Salenave had gath- 
ered against her into a voluminous indict- 
ment. 

On December 6, at nine o'clock in the 
morning, she was ordered to appear before 
the tribunal. Madame du Barry entered 
the audience hall as proud and dignified as 
a queen. 

Although nearly fifty years of age, she 
was still very beautiful, with that youthful 
girl-like beauty so well expressed by Cos- 
way in the portrait he made of the countess 
when she was in England in search of her 



MADAME DU BARRY. 137 

stolen jewels. She always retained that 
charming oval face that the succeeding 
years only rendered more full and perfect; 
but her complexion had suffered from her 
long sojourn in the prison, and the blue 
dress of coarse wool that she now wore was 
not made to embellish a delicate skin that 
was accustomed to disport itself in clouds 
of rich laces, and vieing in beauty with the 
sparkling jewels and rare silks of the fair 
mistress. 

However, the gentle beauty of the pris- 
oner did not touch the hearts of the judges. 
Several years of harsh injustice had ren- 
dered them indifferent to every feeling of 
compassion. They were not appointed to 
administer justice or dispense sympathy; 
they were nominated to condemn unfortu- 
nate prisoners to execution. To do aught 
else would be a dereliction of duty. 

The president of the revolutionary tri- 



138 MADAME DU BARRY. 

bunal, which contributed to the legal as- 
sassination of a woman, was citizen K6n^- 
Frangois Dumas ; associated with him were 
three other judges. The principal witnesses 
were Charles Greive, Frangois Salenave, 
Louis Zamore and other servants formerly 
employed by Madame du Barry. 

When the tribunal had convened, the 
president addressed the accused as follows : 

"Prisoner, what is your name and age?" 

"Jeanne Vaubernier, aged forty-seven 
years." 

"State the place of your birth, and your 
last place of residence." 

"I was born at Vaucouleurs — and last re- 
sided at Luciennes." 

"Are you not the wife of the former Count 
du Barry?" 

"No — we are separated by law." 

Then the formidable list of charges or ac- 
cusations that had been made against her 



MADAME DU BARRY. 13d 

was read, and she was asked if they were 
true. 

"No, they are false in every particular," 
was her reply. 

Then the witnesses were called. First 
came FranQois Salenave, who testified that 
he was thirty-eight years of age, that he 
was formerly employed by the accused at 
Luciennes and had seen many aristocrats 
visit her house ; that in his character of pa- 
triot he had been watched and betrayed by 
other domestics of the house, who had preju- 
diced the mind of the accused against him, 
and for that reason he had been discharged. 

In answer to his testimony Madame du 
Barry said it was false; that she had re- 
ceived aristocrats ; and that the witness had 
been discharged from her service for thefts 
of porcelain and other misdemeanors. 

Louis Zamore, the famous black slave of 
Madame du Barry, was the next witness. 



140 MADAME DU BARRY. 

He testified that he was born in Bengal, In- 
dia; was thirty-one years of age; had lived 
with the accused since he was ten years of 
age; that, seeing the patriotic papers speak 
of her so often in a bold and suspicious tone, 
he had advised her to sacrifice a portion of 
her fortune and give it to the nation, in 
order that she might retain the balance. 
That the accused, in spite of his advice, con- 
tinued to receive and entertain aristocrats 
who applauded the defeats of the republican 
army; that he spoke to the accused about 
it, but she paid no attention to his warn- 
ings; on the contrary, she ordered him to 
leave her house within three days. 

In answer to this witness, the accused 
said: "It is not true that I received aristo- 
crats in my house; as to the notice the 
witness says he gave me, I never received 
it ; as to his discharge from my service, that 
is the reason he comes here to testify against 
me.'' 



MADAME DU BARRY, 141 

Such was the general character of the evi- 
dence given by the various witnesses, all of 
whom were apparently actuated by spite 
and ill-will toward the accused. At the 
close of the testimony the questions were 
brusquely explained to the jury, who, af- 
ter a few moments^ absence, returned a ver- 
dict of guilty against the accused. The 
president promptly read the decree of death, 
which declared that the execution should 
take place within twenty-four hours. 

Although she had maintained a firm 
bearing during the progress of the trial, 
Madame du Barry could not withstand the 
shock of the terrible sentence. 

When she realized that the trial was 
ended, that death stared her in the face, so 
near, in fact, that she could already feel the 
cold breath of the tomb ; that Luciennes and 
the wealth and luxury that had been her 
joy and pride were now lost to her forever; 



142 MADAUn DU BARRV.^ 

that for her there were no more songs, no 
more laughter, no more love; then, she al- 
lowed herself to succumb to the most pro- 
found despair, and, being attacked by a sud- 
den feebleness, she fell, in a fainting condi- 
tion, into the arms of the gendarmes, who 
carried her outside the dreadful audience 
hall. 

The spectators of this sad spectacle were 
unmoved. They had seen the same scene 
enacted so often that they had become hard- 
ened to the misfortune and grief of a fellow- 
being. One man was observed to rub his 
hands together in a manner that indicated 
joy and satisfaction, whilst that renowned 
patriot, Greive, burst into laughter, believ- 
ing perhaps that he had saved France, but 
more especially satisfied that he had been 
able to assist at the condemnation of an 
unfortunate woman who had resisted his 
embraces. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 143 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Immediately after her conaemnation, 
Madame du Barry was returned to her cell. 
She did not touch the meagre dinner that 
was brought to her. Weeping and lament- 
ing, with dishevelled hair and disordered 
dress, she sat on the side of her miserable 
bed. She was the embodiment of despair 
and misfortune. 

For several hours she remained in that 
position, whilst her whole body was agi- 
tated by violent sobs. Finally, fatigue, de- 
spair, and the horror of death overcame her, 
and it was almost eleven o'clock at night 
when Madame du Barry extended herself 
on the bed and went to sleep. 

Then, almost noiselessly, the cell-door, 
which had been oiled in the afternoon, was 



144 MADAME DU BARRY. 

opened wide. A man entered and closed 
the door behind him. He carried in his left 
hand a small lantern. A naked sabre was 
passed through his belt, and a Phrygian bon- 
net, ornamented with a tricolor cockade, 
covered the top of his head. A sardonic 
smile wandered over his thick, sensual lips, 
and his white teeth shone in the darkness 
like those of a wolf. He entered like a 
beast of prey about to pounce on his 
quarry. 

He placed the lantern upon a small table, 
placed the sabre beside the lantern, and, 
quietly, advanced toward Madame du Bar- 
ry. 

The slumber of the unfortunate woman 
was too much disturbed by hideous night- 
mares for her to sleep soundly; therefore, 
in spite of the precautions he had taken and 
the very slight noise he had made, Madame 
du Barry was awakened by his entrance. 



MADAME DU BARRY. 145 

She suddenly opened her eyes, and uttering 
a cry of terror, raised herself to a sitting 
posture. Then, by the dim light afforded by 
the lantern, she recognized her old servant, 
and exclaimed: 

"Salenave!" 

"Yes, it is I, citoyenne ; it is your old serv- 
ant. I am pleased to find that you recog- 
nize me, madame '' 

Then, as she extended her hands in a ges- 
ture of fear and disgust, he knelt before 
her and continued, in a humble voice : 

"Madame, you need have no fear. I do 
not come to do you any harm, but on the 
contrary, I wish to save you, to give you 
liberty and life. Madame, during tlie three 
years I have spent in your house, almost in 
your chamber, then I heard your T^^arblings 
of love and your merry laughter, now I hear 
your sobs of grief and despair ; during those 
years I have learned to love you " 



146 MADAME DU BARRY., 

"Oh!" 

"I am well aware that you despise me, and 
now I horrify you. Nevertheless, I am just 
as good as that puppet Lord Seymour, that 
imbecile Coss6 Brissac, that coward Kohan- 
Chabot, or that rascal the Chevalier d'Es- 
court, all of whom you have accepted as lov- 
ers, whilst you despised me. I am as good 
or, perhaps, a little better than those peo- 
ple, brutalized, as they are, by twenty years 
of lust and debauchery, and twenty years 
of base servility to an ignoble King. But 
you have not noticed my looks of devotion 
or my sighs of despair; on the contrary, you 
turned me from your door like you would 
a mangy cur. You were the mistress — I 
had to obey. Now it is I who am the mas- 
ter; I can command, if I so choose, but I 
prefer to obtain you willingly. Madame, I 
love you and can save you in spite of every- 
one." 



MADAME DU BARRY. 147 

Whilst speaking, Salenave had gradually 
crawled closer and closer to Madame du 
Barry. He endeavored to place his arms 
about her waist, but she fought him, slapped 
his face, and furrowed his neck with her 
finger-nails. But, without a word, he con- 
tinued to press closer to her; then, she felt 
constrained to cry out: 

"Go away, monster — fiend — leave me! I 
would rather die — oh! oh! — Help!" 

"I love you, I love you," he said; "I 
love you and can save you. Listen! I am 
rich; Luciennes now belongs to me — all 
mine. I can return you everything, all your 
wealth, and we can go far away, to the new 
world. You will be happy — you will live!" 

At these words "you will live," Madame 
du Barry had a sudden vision. 

Oh! to live, to live! That was to enjoy 
the sunshine, the gentle winds, the spring 
flowers and the autumn twilights. Oh! to 



148 MADAME DU BARRY. 

live — to live! whilst she thought herself ir- 
revocably consigned to death, to the infa- 
mous guillotine. What joy! What deliv- 
erance! And the prison cell suddenly 
glowed with all the glorious light of a stim- 
mer sun, birds sang, flowers bloomed and 
perfumed the air with their fragrance, green 
valleys appeared in the distance under a 
sky of pure blue. 

"I love you — ^you will live!" repeated 
Salenave. 

The sound of his voice dispelled the vis- 
ion under which she had labored for a brief 
moment. Salenave, the detested ^ servant, 
was at her side, urging upon her his ob- 
noxious attentions. Then, realizing the hor- 
ror of her situation, she rose to her feet and, 
with a strength born of despair, she seized 
Salenave and thrust him from her — with 
such force that be measured his length on 



MADAME DU BARRY. 149 

She renewed her cries for help with such 
noise and vehemence that Salenave became 
alarmed that her cries would be heard and 
answered, and that he might be discovered 
in a place he had no right or authority to be. 
Scrambling to his feet, he uttered some 
oaths, grasped his sword and lantern from 
the table and hurriedly quit the cell, fu- 
rious at the failure of his villainous scheme. 

After his departure, Madame du Barry 
fell upon her cot and, throughout the night, 
the guard who patrolled the adjoining cor- 
ridor heard the prisoner uttering long- 
drawn sighs and heart-rending sobs, like a 
child who had been abandoned on a deserted 
road, on a dark night, after being punished. 



150 MADAME DU BARRY. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Toward the close of the year 1793, when 
Madame du Barry was to be offered as a 
sacrifice to Saint Guillotine to satisfy the 
vengeance of a frenzied populace, Paris had 
already grown weary of the horrors of the 
Revolution; the odor of blood had driven 
away the residents from the houses adja- 
cent to the Place de la Revolution; a new 
guillotine had been erected upon the Place 
du Trone. Along the route usually taken 
by the death-carts shops were closed and 
passers-by endeavored to avoid meeting the 
procession. It had become necessary to 
limit the number of executions to sixty a 
day. 

In the evening, under the windows of each 



MADAME DU BARRY. 151 

prison, the list of the victims was shouted 
out — "These are they who have gained prizes 
in the lottery of Saint Guillotine." The un- 
fortunates who crowded to the windows 
thus learned of the tidings of the execution 
of those they loved. Madame du Barry's 
name will soon be added to the list of prize 
winners. 

After a night of fitful slumber, peopled 
with horrible nightmares, Madame du Barry 
shuddered with terror as she beheld the first 
streaks of light of the coming day — to her, 
the last day on earth. The dreadful thought 
utterly prostrated her, and she did not stir, 
or show the slightest sign of life until she 
was aroused by the grating noise caused by 
the drawing of the bolts on the door of her 
cell. 

The executioner entered, followed by 
Judge Denisot and Claude Roger, who rep- 
resented the public accuser. 



15% MADAME DU BARRY. 

Madame du Barry regarded these men 
with an affrighted air. It was the duty of 
the executioner to cut her hair, and she 
humbly submitted to the operation, without 
a word of protest or an indignant look. 
When informed that she must leave the cell 
and follow them, she walked with the air 
of a somnambulist. 

"Two months ago," said a jailer, "it was 
the Austrian woman who went out of that 
cell — never to return; to-day, it is the for- 
mer sultana of the former tyrant. The two 
heads will go into the same basket." 

Overhearing these words, Madame du 
Barry recalled that yesterday she had been 
condemned to death. Thereupon, she ut- 
tered a wild cry of despair. Between two 
wickets of the Conciergerie she stopped the 
guards who were conducting her, and seized 
the arm of Judge Denisot; her face was 
bathed in tears, her breast heaved with con- 



MADAME DU BARRY. 163 

vulsive sobs, whilst she made this last at- 
tempt to save the life she held so dear. 

"Do not kill me! Do not kill me!" she 
cried; "I will give you all — everything I 
have in the world. They have not found one- 
quarter of my possessions. I have hidden 
treasures — vast sums — they are all yours if 
you will save me." 

The judge recoiled a step, and for reply, 
made a sign to Claude Roger, who prepared 
to take down in writing what the unfortu- 
nate woman had to say. 

"Listen! I have a beautiful gold work- 
box and a basket full of diamonds hidden 
in the garden ; with Deliant, at Luciennes, I 
have a number of gold watches, set mth dia- 
monds, also a package of diamonds. Every- 
where, in my chamber, in the dining-room, 
under the staircase, I have hidden enormous 
wealth. You may have it all if you will 
save me. I do not want to die !" 



154 MADAME DU BARRY, 

She swooned and fell into the arms of a 
guard. They revived her by the aid of a 
cordial, and, very gently, the judge induced 
her to give detailed particulars of her hid- 
den treasure, that it might be readily found. 
In this gentleness she saw a gleam of hope. 
She confessed everything, compromising her 
friends, not knowing, poor unfortunate, that 
her cowardly despair was enriching the revo- 
lutionists, condemning her friends to the 
guillotine, and serving her no good pur- 
pose. 

So soon as her statement was finished, the 
judge made a signal, in response to which 
the guards opened a door and Madame du 
Barry saw before her one of the carts used 
for the conveyance of victims from the Con- 
ciergerie to the scaffold. She understood 
then that all was over, that she must die, 
and, before this inexorable destiny, she be- 
came resigned. 






ii'i:;:^:-';' 










MADAME DU BARRY ON HER WAY TO THE GUILLOTINl. 



(155) 



MADAME DU BARRY. 157 

As white as the dress in which she had 
had been clothed for the execution, she 
mounted the cart. The sun — a mild winter 
sun — shone in the blue sky, accompanied 
by a few fleecy white clouds. A perfect 
day for a long journey. An immense crowd 
of people, dressed as for a holiday, struggled 
against each other in the streets and 
squares, in the windows and even upon the 
roofs, to obtain a last look at the beautiful 
mistress of the former tyrant. The horses 
walked so slowly, the distance seemed in- 
terminable to the fair victim. 

Madame du Barry did not hear the clam- 
ors of the infamous and cruel populace; 
she did not see the insulting laughter and 
obscene gestures of the spectators. She cov- 
ered her face with her hands and wept. 

Near the Palais-Koyal, she suddenly 
raised her head and saw before her the mil- 
linery shop in which she had worked as a 



158 MADAME DU BARRY,. 

young girl, so many years ago. Then, her 
past life glided before her eyes like a pano- 
'rama. Once more she saw the King, the 
court, the f^tes, Versailles, Luciennes, the 
Duke de Cossd-Brissac, the Marquis de 
Rohan- Chabot. She saw all her past hap- 
piness as well as the horror of the present 
moment. 

Then, twisting her arms, she uttered 
piercing shrieks, inhuman cries, terrifying 
and heart-rending, that could be heard from 
one end to the other of the Eue Saint- 
Honor6. 

Before this unmerited anguish, the spec- 
tators ceased their insults. Human hearts 
beat within the breasts of some of those 
slaves of vengeance and injustice. Even a 
few words of pity were uttered. 

With haggard eyes and distorted mouth, 
the poor woman cried : 

"My friends — save me. I have not done 



MADAME DU BARRY. 159 

any wrong to you. In the name of Heaven, 
save me!" 

Madame du Barry did not possess, as a 
basis for courage, either the piety of Queen 
Marie-Antoinette, the virile faith of Ma- 
dame Koland, the pride of Madame Eliza- 
beth, or the scorn and contempt of the 
Princess de Lamballe. She was simply a 
woman who had loved life; had enjoyed it, 
and wished to enjoy it longer ; who believed 
only in this life and the pleasures that it 
afforded. And, shaken by sobs, she re- 
peated : 

"My life! leave me my life! I will give 
all my property to the nation!" 

"Your property!" said someone in a loud 
voice, "you cannot give to the nation that 
which already belongs to it." 

A coal-porter, standing in front of the 
insulter, turned quickly and dealt him a 
blow. Some murmurs of pity arose from the 



160 MADAME DU BARRY. 

crowd, but the officer who rode near the 
cart whipped up the horses to end the spec- 
tacle. At half-past four in the afternoon 
the cart arrived at the place of the execu- 
tion. 

Greive, who was standing near the scaf- 
fold, applauded. The Chevalier d'Escourt, 
who was standing near him, drew his sword 
and was about to transpierce the sans-cu- 
lotte, when some guards seized the chevalier 
and drew him away, whilst he cried, "Assas- 
sins! Assassins!" 

Frightened and despairing, wild from an- 
guish and terror, Madame du Barry wept 
and shrieked whilst the guard helped her 
from the cart and made her ascend the steps 
of the scaffold. As she did so, the wild mob 
surrounding the scaffold burst into a sol- 
emn and terrible chorus, and the words of 
the "Marseill?Li^§" drowned tb§ mm Qt tb§ 



MADAME DU BARRY. 161 

^^ AllonSy enfants de la patrie; 
Le jour de gloire est arrive; 
Contre nous, de la tyrannies 
Le couteau sanglant est leve. 



}> 



"One minute more — only one minute!" 
pleaded the unfortunate. 

The excutioner brutally placed her on 
the plank. The mob was now silent. The 
guillotine, with its forbidding black frame, 
was outlined against the blue sky, and its 
triangular knife shone and glistened in the 
sunshine. The crowd maintained a breath- 
less silence. A clicking sound was heard. 
"Pity on me! Pity! Oh!" 

The knife descended noiselessly, with 
lightning speed, a spurt of blood and all was 
over. The executioner, taking the head by 
the hair, so short that his hand was covered 
with blood; showed it to the people, who 



KOV 29 IDOl 



NOV 23 1901 



162 MADAME DU BARRY. 

thereupon shouted, "Vive la republique! 
Down with tyrants! Vive la liberty." 

The crime was consummated. The Ter- 
ror had assassinated one woman more. The 
crowd dispersed slowly, satisfied with their 
day's amusement. Greive, rubbing his 
hands, expressed the sentiments of the rab- 
ble who then governed France, when he 
said : 

"I have never laughed so much as I did 
to-day, on seeing the faces that La du Barry 
made when she come to die !" 

This event occurred 8th Deceniber, 1793. 



THE END. 



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